There's no Kindle in my future. And here's yet another reason why you'll have to pry paper books out of my cold dead hands. Apparently, even though you buy an ebook, you don't really own it.

This is Zoe's memorial photo. My Photoshop skillz are nowhere near my daughter's, but I didn't have any photos of Zoe solo that were suitable for 5x7 enlargement. Still, it's very much Zoe, so who cares about the rest?

e_bourne has posted a Mark update. Depending upon how I'm feeling, I may drop by the hospital tonight and welcome back our cardiac patient--if he's awake when I arrive.

In case people haven't heard, shellyrae had a bicycle accident Wednesday morning and is in the hospital with a fractured neck and a concussion. Turns out that the incident was recorded on the Fremont Universe blog. I find the comments thread irritating (mainly all the "she should have been more careful" comments--even if it's true, it felt offensive to me mainly because she's my friend, in the hospital, badly hurt). Several of us from the office will be visiting her at lunchtime today. What a week, eh?

Sophie seems to be growing by inches on a daily basis. Yesterday when I came home from work, I looked at her and thought, "Her tail is longer." I'm sure it's proportional with her body growth; it was just an interesting moment. She's reclining on my chest right now, purring away. Her purr is lower. Just a few days ago, it sounded high and clicky. Now it's a deeper sound, centered more in her chest and lungs than in her throat (though I know that purring occurs in the throat, yes). She's growing, my little girl. And she and Spanky are playing on a more regular basis. From Spanky's perspective, it seems to grow out of irritation, but he never hurts her and is putting up with quite a bit of abuse.

jackwilliambell and I will be away on Saturday night. Really looking forward to it. It'll be the first time in a while we'll have just to be by ourselves together. Very happy about the trip. Details anon.

I'm reading "Perdido Street Station"...at last. Yes, it's taken me this long. I hang my head in shame, especially because I'm really enjoying it. It's my bus book, and its density and flavor makes me read more slowly, just savoring the language and the weirdness.

I purchased a couple of canvases earlier this week for painting projects I've had in mind. I don't know when on Earth I'm going to find the time to do them, but I do want to get them done. I've had little time to be creative lately, and I feel myself getting antsy, almost testy about it.

That's the general state of affairs at Chez scarlettina. And how are things with you?

I just watched Pat Buchanan make a total flaming ass of himself on the Rachel Maddow show. He ranted on and on and on about how Sonia Sotomayor is only where she is today because of affirmative action, and how Obama only chose her because she's Latina and female, not because she was actually qualified.

Rachel, keeping her cool, tried to get the discussion out of 50s-era white-male pouting and to stick to the issues. Had she chosen to respond in kind, she could have pointed out that Clarence Thomas was the first affirmative-action nominee. Bush needed to find a black male nominee to fill Thurgood Marshall's seat, and he therefore passed over more qualified candidates and scraped the bottom of the barrel to find an African American judicial lightweight who was conservative enough. Had it been anyone but Thurgood Marshall whose seat was being filled, nobody would have looked at Clarence Thomas for a moment.

Way to eat your own shorts, Pat.

Just wanted to let everyone know, that a new version of MemcacheD has been released. We will be rolling this out to the memcache nodes during the week of July 20th to 24th. This should have very little impact on the stability of the website; however users may see a slight increase in load times as the cache is re-populated with entries.

The software has been tested and verified to be working just fine with the application; so we perceive this to be a very minimal risk in regards to updating, and the stability of the website.

Thanks...

Saw Mark and Elizabeth last night. Mark was sedated when I saw him, but he's looking much more like himself--color's better, swelling's gone down. He still had a little bit of a fever, but no one seemed concerned, so I'm not either. His blood pressure is actually looking pretty normal. I could see the bandages where they closed him up: a line of clean, tidy dressing about three inches wide down the middle of his chest.

Mark's coming off the ventilator today. My understanding is that he'll be in the hospital for another week or two.

Elizabeth looked much better than she did over the weekend, too. We had dinner out last night--Greek food, she, I, Austin and her sister Jane--and I understand it's the first time she's been out of the hospital that long or that far for days now. It was a goodness, like she was coming back to the world.

So that's the scoop as of last night. Don't know whether or not I'll get to the hospital tonight, but if I do, I'll e-mail again.

to snippy

New Notes Feature
Automatic Detect Location
Pingbacks for All
Birthday Wishes

( Read more... )

ironymaiden reports:

Just saw the surgeon. The closure went just fine.

The left side of Mark's heart had been very weak - but now it's up to just below normal function. He's back in his room, and E will be able to see him at 10:30. They'll be waking him up slowly in the next couple hours. The plan is to take out his breathing tube and the other assists tomorrow morning.

Thank. Freaking. God.

My friends are so literal. I love you all but, really, a little credit is due. I know cats have belly buttons. As someone pointed out, they're mammals and all mammals have them. I posted that question by way of demonstrating exactly how tired and punchy I was last night.

It's a new day. Let's start again, shall we? :-)

I worked late tonight, attempting to help make up for the hole I dug into last week's income by taking the day off. Came home with all these ambitious ideas. The plan was to have dinner, watch a little TV, and then be productive. Well, I got the first two bits done. Productivity has been minimal. I'm really tired.

As e_bourne reports, Mark's being closed tomorrow. I can feel her anxiety from here. I don't envy her having a front seat for all this, or the 110% emotional investment. They're my friends, so I'm pretty invested, but this is happening in the middle of their lives. Neither of them gets time off or away from it until it's over. It's all scary as hell. I don't want to lose Mark. I don't want Elizabeth to suffer any more. I want it all over with and a happy ending with a bright gold ribbon on it.

Today, jackwilliambell's brand new convertible got hit-and-run. Apparently it's got a dent in the rear quarter panel on the passenger side and a trace of white paint. It sucks. The car was pristine. The circumstances are suspicious. He's just livid about it, as he should be. He's pursuing it as best he can. I wish I could do something about it but, of course, all I can do is offer moral support. If I could find the perp, I'd take him out back and let my friend Luigi work him over. And then Luigi's cousin Vinnie would fix the car up just right. ::sigh::

I've been in big, deep avoidance over things that shouldn't be allowed to wait and I'm not sure why. It's to my own detriment. If I'm being self destructive I need to figure out the provocation.

I splurged on myself: $20 for a ticket to the Disneyana show in Lynnwood in August. Big spender.

If this post seems random, it's pretty much how I feel right now: random, tired, isolated. And I find myself wondering about the oddest things, to wit:

Do cats have belly buttons? Sophie is my fifth cat and I've never been able to find a navel on her or any of her predecessors.

Clearly it's time for bed.

Just checked in with ironymaiden about visiting markbourne and e_bourne at the hospital. This is what she said:

Visiting [Elizabeth] today is fine, especially if anyone would like to look in on
Mark. No one will be able to see Mark tomorrow, but E will definitely need
support tomorrow.

"I guess I'm going to have to go out to [transmitter site]. The last time the temperature got that hot, some kids had set the building on fire."

This just in from ironymaiden:

Elizabeth spoke with the surgeon this morning. Things are progressing well,
and the plan is to close up Mark's chest at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We still
may not see him awake tomorrow, since they may keep him sedated a little
longer after the surgery so that he gets the most rest possible.

I saw him earlier this morning and he's looking better than yesterday - as
the fluid goes down, he looks more and more like himself. Elizabeth is in
with him now and we'll switch off in a little while.

Short version: Sophie has discovered the joys of the laser pointer.

I received the laser pointer several years ago as swag from something-I-remember-not-what. I used it with Spanky and Merlin, neither of whom played with it for long. Once they realized it was a zero-sum game, they ignored it. What fun is a bug you can't catch, a bug that isn't really there?

Sophie, however, seems to be interested in the shiny red bug for the chase itself. What's interesting is that I think she knows that I control the bug based on her behavior around my picking up the pointer. The pointer is attached to a key chainy-sort of thing that jingles when I pick it up. I think she's begun to associate the sound with the appearance of the bug.

The laser pointer offers several advantages to other toys. It doesn't lay around on the floor to be tripped over. It doesn't end up on my bed beside my pillow (which, although sweet, can get a little weird). Sophie will run after the light indefinitely. And after a while, Sophie just wears out, prompting her to sit down like a meatloaf and rest. Also, if I send the red bug beneath furniture, it gives me several minutes of peace while she attempts to locate the bug.

She's quite clever, and very entertaining. She's also grown substantially. She's developing a leggy, rangy look about her of the sort adolescent felines get--except that she really is still kitten sized. It looks like her eyes will be yellowy-gold when their color settles. She's very strong, and it looks like she may give Merlin a run for his money in the jumping department. She's already quite the athlete.

And lastly, it appears that she and Spanky have reached a detente. I've seen them play together briefly over the last few days. Sophie is fearless; she'll jump on his back or his neck and attempt to ride him. I know some of it is the dominance dance. Some of it is just hilarious.

I did a deep search on Google for anything related to "Penguins on the March" tonight and discovered that someone created a map of all the locations. Looks like I'll have to do a tour!

Speaking of which, yesterday while we were roaming around Fremont, kateyule, davidlevine and I discovered Cleopenguin in her temporary home, the ArtFX Gallery in Fremont on 35th. The gallery owner was excited to meet me and said he loves Cleo, that he's a freak about ancient Egypt and was thrilled to give her a home for exhibit. I hope we get a sunny day this weekend so I can photograph Cleo in situ. When we were over there, it was a rainy day so she was inside on a pedestal--a real piece of art! Usually, she's outside by the front door. I want to get shots of her where she's usually exhibited.

So if you're in Seattle and you love pengies, this is your chance! You have no excuse! Print out the map and go penguin hunting! And don't forget to go to the zoo and see the real penguins--they're wonderful.

From ironymaiden:

Elizabeth has been in to see Mark; he's still doing well. They say that he
needs as much rest as possible tonight, so no visitors.

ironymaiden reports as follows: The pump is out. Blood pressure is good. Color is good, doctors are happy.

Thank. Freaking. God.

Just received this from ironymaiden:

I'm here at the hospital with the family and Astrid [Bear]. Mark put out a good bit
of fluid last night and is "peeing up a storm" as the nurse says. This is
what we want.

He's slowly improving and the plan is to give him more platelets as
preparation for removing the balloon pump today. This is a major step on the
way to getting his chest closed.

The surgeon says that his recovery is amazing from where he was Friday, and
that he is doing better than they thought he would do. There still is a long
way to go - his fluid weight gain has been over 25lbs and they want to get
all of the swelling down and him back to his preop weight. Brain function
checks excellent, kidney function is well.

Still a long way to go, but everything looking positive. Now looking at
Wednesday closing at earliest. Certainly not tomorrow - no taking chances.
Everything is going better and faster than the doctors expected.

Keep praying and thinking good thoughts.

Just got word that Charles N. Brown, publisher of Locus Magazine, died in his sleep on the way back from Readercon: http://www.locusmag.com/News/2009/07/charles-n-brown-1937-2009.html

I first met Charlie--I don't even remember when, but it had to be as an editorial assistant at Bantam Spectra. He preferred to be called Charles, but so many people called him Charlie, and that's how I knew him primarily. He was a beloved fixture of the science fiction community: knowledgeable, funny, smart, occasionally cranky, always interesting. He had a twinkle in his eye that let you know he was two steps ahead of you no matter what was happening, and enjoyed pulling you along for the ride. My memory is so bad that I don't have specific anecdotes to share about him, which makes me feel like I wasn't paying attention--but I know that's not true.

Charles was one of the good ones. I'm glad to have known him. I'm so sad about this. Save your sympathy for shellyrae, though--she worked with him for years and it's a devastating blow for her.

G'bye, Charlie. Save a drink for me, and give my best to, well, the whole crew up there. We'll miss you. Really miss you.