2009, the Pangloss Style Summary

That was the year that was: 2009

2009 had some ugly moments for those of us in Casa Stan, but perhaps it was all for the best. As our friend Doctor Pangloss pointed out to Candide, in order to have the good you must also have the bad.

For instance, our 11 year old cocker spaniel, Dusty, died. However, the first 6 months of 2009 were good months for him, following his 2008 ear ablation, until his cancer returned. And as a bonus, we now have our beautiful adopted calico cat, Cali.

Beate's brother Gary nearly died from sepsis - a condition he is vulerable to since his spleen was removed when he was a child. However, he is out of the hospital, recovering, and in farily good health now. And he is more aware of his danger from infection.

My own tumble from a bicycle, where I broke and dislocated my shoulder, was fairly catastrophic, but I am done with my physical therapy and mostly recovered. I have a new helmut now, and took a bike ride with Beate the other day. And tonight as I watched Dick Clark on his New Years Eve show, I was impressed with how far he's come in his re-hab from the devastating stroke he suffered. Last year I mocked him, but after my own rehab I'm a more sensitive guy.

Andrew dropped out of the culinary arts program at PTEC, and quit his job, but then enrolled in SPC, and although he dropped out again, now he's re-enrolled, and he found a new job! (Thanks Val!).

Mom and Dad were in a car crash that destroyed their car, and although they got a new car, I don't think that really offsets the disruption to thie lives.

However, there were a number of bonuses this year with no real down-side. Barack Obama became president, replacing the former occupant. Beate and I went to Hawaii again, and Andrew visited the Hulls and Gearys in San Francisco area, and had a really great time!

And we got an extra special bonus: Evelyn Geary was born!

So on the whole, it was a good year, despite it all.

Happy New Year to all!

I am through with Dan Brown

Book Report: "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.

A crazy tatooed person stalks the USA's top Mason and his family, becoming a mason himself and seeking the Lost Word which will unlock secret knowledge of the ages.

This crazy involves Robert Langdon in his plot, and the CIA is involved too, somehow. There's a whole lot of frantic running around, broken up by discussions with dialog that feels like it was lifted right out of some old encyclopeadia. The words 'Science' and 'Scientific' are appear frequently, but almost never legitimately. One of the key ideas in the book it 'Noetic Science', which is not really science at all, but metaphisical mumbo-jumbo.

Although the tempo of this book kept me going until the end, the ending is pure drivel, and I resent the author for having subjected me to it.

I AM DONE WITH DAN BROWN. NO MORE!

Lady Calico de Westlake

It's funny how it goes, but we have a new cat now.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a small feral calico cat hanging out in the bushes at the side of the
house. I mentioned this to Beate, who began to see it in our back yard occassionally.

We had just lost Dusty, our cocker spaniel, to cancer in July. We still miss him, but Beate and I have said we would didn't want any more more pets for a while.

But Beate began setting out food for the cat, and I thought - it might be good if this wild creature
would stick around, especially since I've been seeing rats in the backyard and expect they are in my attic. So I encouraged Beate.

Two days ago, Beate tried to pet it, but it recoiled and hissed savagely. 'Well, keep trying', I said. 'It's a wild creature and may never be a real pet. But it may let you touch it, if you keep trying.'

We both agreed it should be an 'outdoor cat', and we named it Cali - short for calico. Via Google I found that almost all calico cats are female.

Yesterday Cali let Beate pet her. When I came out to see, the cat let me pet her, too. That evening Beate got it to come into the porch. I was watching the news and drifted off. I woke up and realised Cali was in the house. Before I knew it, she was on my lap. Soon Beate, Andrew and I were petting it. Beate called Brian and Jill, and they came over, bringing cat supplies for Cali.

She's so friendly, we think that Cali must have lived with humans before.

The vet says she looks to be in pretty good shape, and vacinated her. She is scheduled to be spayed next month.

I'm not at all sure how this is going to work out. Both Andrew and I are allergic to cats.

But for right now, we have a new cat now.

First Post

Well, this is my first post. We'll have to see how this works out.

Last Sunday I was riding my bike, with my family, and took a fall. I had been clowning around, trying to buzz Andrew's tire with my front tire, but things didn't work out quite as I had expected, and suddenly I was on the ground and not able to get up. My left arm was busted and dislocated, and felt like it was nailed to the ground. I fall down, go BOOM. Or maybe SPLAT. Beate and Andrew gathered round and did their best, and eventually the EMTs came and scooped up the pieces, and took me off to the Emergency Room. Everyone who worked on me was great, and I'm very gratefull, although I fell at 2:30 and didn't get out of the hospital till 10:30.

I'm fortunate for having a loving family, a good employer, and good insurance. Since I am a computer person, I have the ability to work from home, and since I broke my upper left arm, I still have the limited use of my left hand.

I have surgery on Tuesday to screw the broken tubercle back onto my proximal humerus, if I understood my orthopeadic surgeon correctly.

And I've been thinking about trying a blog fro a while, but never really got a round tuit.
But now I finally have. :)