Read Your Writing Out Loud to Get a Good Idea of How It Flows

Thursday, January 14 2010 - - 0 comments

I've been reading Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1) then Eldest (Inheritance, Book 2) and now Brisingr Deluxe Edition (Inheritance) to my son. One of the major complaints I have with these books is with the place names. They are literally impossible to speak aloud: Ellesmera, Galbatorix, Alagaesia just to name a few. My wife had a few of her high school students read a couple of paragraphs and they faired no better than I. It’s funny because depending on who is reading the book the names change considerably. My son, however, loves these books. He can read them, and does when I refuse, but he really...

How Many Words in English and Other Languages

Wednesday, January 06 2010 - 0 comments

Lately my personal focus has been on writing. In early November of this year I grudgingly gave up on a novel I had been procrastinating my way through for about ten years ( yes ten ). You see the novel was really interesting when I started, but just kept falling off my radar. Though I was almost done I decided to let it go and start something new. Today I’m at 95,000+ words with little more than a chapter to go on my new novel. In the course of doing all this writing I’ve been paying a lot of attention to what other writers are doing. I recently read that there are over 600k words in the English...

Making Sure You Know Where Your Tax Money is Spent

Sunday, May 10 2009 - - 1 comments

Today I was driving to Exeter, NH to go to Loaf and Ladle restaurant with Carol. As we are heading down 101E we come up to one of those large 4’ x 6’ green reflective signs that litter the highway with essential information for drivers. This particular sign said something along the lines of: Project brought to you by the American Revitalization and Rejuvenation Act. It was full color with a logo on it. Now, to my knowledge, every single road project in NH or anywhere else in the country is funded by taxes, ergo, my taxes and your taxes. Some nitwit in NH government apparently thought I should know...

Things that Make You Go WTF

Sunday, May 03 2009 - - 0 comments

So, recently Egypt announced that they were going to cull a large number of pigs. It was thought [ said ] that it was a direct measure against the swine flu. So, let’s follow this logic for a moment: a) Pigs in Mexico contract flu virus from human b) Pigs in Mexico mix a new flu cocktail and the new flu virus, tired of wallowing in the mud jumped back to somewhat cleaner human host c) Human shares new flu virus with friends and family who quickly spread it around the world What about that lowly pig? When was the last time you saw a swine jet setting around the world? I’ve seen a lot of people who...

Return of The Great White Whale

Wednesday, April 08 2009 - - 1 comments

We’ve been back from Michigan for a few days now and as before, I’ve been dressing the wound and taking pictures of the healing process. This time the dressing part is almost optional (Carol can do it herself) and the healing is very obvious. This first picture is from last night. That would be 7 days after surgery. Compared to this one taken over a month after surgery [that’s just nasty]. Carol has been experiencing very little in the way of agonizing pain. The main exception being late at night when she has been waking up due to some extreme pain, but it is because she is getting leg cramps that...

Post Surgery Made It Home

Saturday, April 04 2009 - - 3 comments

We left yesterday around 7:30am - 8:00am and drove straight through. We got home at 11:30pm. It wasn't a pleasant drive to say the least. It rained for most of the time; many times quite hard. For the first 6 hours or so Carol experienced a lot of phantom pain due to the constant bouncing up and down. We guess it was due to the swelling caused by the vibrations. After that she started experiencing "real" pain. She was on the maximum dosage of pain killers and was still miserable. I on the other hand, picked up some stomach thing shortly after breakfast, and was seriously uncomfortable for the entire...

Left Hospital in Record Time

Thursday, April 02 2009 - - 1 comments

Last surgery we were told to expect a 4-5 day stay and it took something like 11 days. This time we were told a 3-5 day stay and we left after 3 days. In reality we could have checked out yesterday, had we lived anywhere near the hospital Dr. Ertl would probably have let us go. As it stands, we are spending the night in Kalamazoo to get some rest. Carol had oddball room mates shuffling in and out of her room every night she was there and just didn't get much sleep. The hotel is nice and quiet. We spoke with Dr. Ertl again today before we left. He was on call, but still managed to sit and chat for...

Post Surgery Day 2 Wrap Up

Wednesday, April 01 2009 - - 1 comments

All things considered today was a rather boring day. I'll take a boring day at the hospital over an exciting one anytime so I'm happy with how this day went. I managed to put a full day of work in, sitting in a chair next to Carol and VPN'd into work. Dr. Ertl came by the room around 4:45pm and dressed the wound. If you compare the Jan 9th picture below to the one from today you can see how different the two surgery out comes are. Her original surgery was on Jan 4th, so you are comparing 5 days after surgery vs. 1 day. She is pretty swollen still, but it looks much better than before. April 1st...

Post Surgery News

Tuesday, March 31 2009 - - 4 comments

For those who were asking: Carol is in room 760 Bed 2 @ Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo, MI. [ updated to new room ] Carol was awake and communicative when they rolled her in. She got changed out of the surgical gown and into a regular gown. She got sick, much like last time, but since she hasn't eaten or had anything to drink there wasn't much to get out. We are waiting for her Diet Coke and ice cream to show up. Doctor Ertl found and removed a number of nerve neroma's (sp?). One was wrapped from front to back, another appeared to be grown into the bone bridge. He expressed optimism that the...

The Long Wait Begins

Tuesday, March 31 2009 - - 1 comments

Carol was rolled into surgery around 1:15pm. She was her usual, laughing and joking self. Dr. Ertl was there to say hello and answer questions. He mentioned that his communication person wanted to drop by and take some pictures and interview Carol. She mentioned getting the local Channel 3 News in to take some pictures and interview Carol. I'm guessing that people driving from NH for surgery aren't all that common. Carol all smiles and Dr. Ertl taking my picture. Surgery will be around 3 hours with a minimum of 1 1/2 for recovery so it will be a while. I will post an update as information becomes...