Music of the Spheres

Two of my favorite bloggers have not been producing a lot of material over the last few months.  In addressing their absence, both have decided to forgo the usual "I've been busy"/"I'll write more soon, honest" tropes and have decided to go a more creative route:

slacktivist has a perfectly normal day where absolutely nothing interesting has happened.

AD finds something by the side of the road.

Ambulance Driver's post is certainly the longer of the two, but also the more rewarding.  slacktivist's post is funny as hell.  Enjoy!

1)  Last night, I was out having dinner at a brew pub with friends when the table broke out in the song "Still Alive" by Jon Coulton.

2)  I ran into TRM of Aethelmearc on the train home from work today.

I know, random, right?

Customer Service FTW!

Teh Geek and I are finally about to take our honeymoon.  We're going to leave for the beach in about half an hour and be back sometime around Friday.  I hope everyone has a great week, and I'll catch up with you all when we get back.

And now for something completely different.

Reposted from my LiveJournal from this afternoon.  (I can post to LJ from my phone but not VOX for some reason.)

Dad's surgery went well, and I just left him (and his wife) sleeping in the room. I went in search of coffee, but I've got a few minutes to kill before the cafeteria opens back up at 3:30. He now has a titanium-encased difibrilater implanted into his upper left pectoral muscle. The ICD is technically, theoretically and hypothetically capable of withstanding a bullet shot, but he has been warned under no uncertain terms is he to test this. (Can you tell that he is already picking up a bit of a reputation with the hospital staff?) Otherwise, things are going fairly well and he'll be getting out tomorrow. As for me, I'm looking forward to getting some coffee in about another five minutes. I'll let you all now if there are any other changes.

...And after pouring my heart out in that last post, I neglected to post the other big piece of news.

When I got home last night, I found out that not only was Ursula already in the hospital, but my dad is going in on Tuesday.  His cardiologist has been concerned about some arrhythmia that was observed after the first surgery.  After some more tests and analysis, the decision was made to put a defibrillator into his heart.  The surgery will be tomorrow morning.

This surgery is not about making my dad better.  This surgery is about keeping him from up and dying. 

I know I haven't been giving you guys a lot of updates about my dad's progress (or lack thereof).  It's been pretty hard for me, and I haven't felt like writing about it.  Even after having the stent put in, my dad's heart volume is now 60% below where it was before the heart attack.  He has not regained much of anything since the first surgery.  His blood pressure has been rather distressingly low, and he has been getting tired very easily.  The ventrical tachycardia is an additional issue, which will hopefully be dealt with once this procedure is done.

Fortunately, I was able to get the day off from work, so I will be spending it at the hospital with my dad.

Tonight was the second time in my life that I have had to go to the hospital to say good bye to someone. 

It was NOT easier for having done it before.

My godmother Ursula has not been well for some time.  In fact, she was too sick to come to my wedding back in March.  To my regret and to my shame, however, I have not seen her since then.  Some part of me just refused to really believe that she could actually be that sick.  How could a woman who has stood up to the Nazis, escaped from the Commies and bossed around Presidents* possibly ever be laid low?  Ursula has always been invincible and mighty -- a fact that was not lost on any of my friends who met her. 

Still, my dad kept telling me that her health was deteriorating and that she wanted to see me, but there was always something in the way.  There was always a reason not to call -- it was too late at night, I was too busy, I was in a bad mood...  God, how could I have been so stupid?

She was admitted to the hospital over the weekend while I was out of town.  Sarah greeted me at the door with the news when I got back last night, and we agreed to go see her when I got off work today.

....

You know, I don't think I want to go into the details too much.  I'll just say that it was bad. 

It is possible that she will not last the week... but based on the strength with which she gripped my hand when I went to her bedside, I am afraid that her body has not given up fighting.  She is -- quite vocally -- ready to move on and has made her peace.  However, I think that after 80-some-odd years her body just doesn't know how to give up.  I am terrified of the misery she will have to go through if this goes on for weeks and weeks.

The only other time I have had to say good bye to someone in a hospital bed was for the greatest singer I have ever known.  Aside from my mom, I don't think anyone who reads this ever heard Leroy Campbell sing, and that's a shame.  Still, the only recording of his voice that I have seems very appropriate right now.

Come and Go to That Land

Washington Revels

*This is all true.  Indiana Jones has NOTHING on my godmother.

First igasu posted this to LJ, and them my mom emailed the link to me a couple of days later. 

I think that's a sign that I should repost it, don't you? :-)

This is definitely for all of my music geek friends out there.

I got to see Artomatic yesterday with Teh Geek, chameleon613 and moosegirl1017.  It is a very interesting show, and worth the time to walk through it.  Added coolness came from the fact that several of the artists were there at their displays talking about their art.

What is Artomatic?  You mean you don't know?  Well that's all right...  I didn't really understand it until I got there myself.  Start with an empty, unused office building one block from the Red Line.  Contact approximately 1,000 local artists and allow them to create displays of their own work, and then spread those displays across 9 floors of the building.  There is an awful LOT of art on display, and it is a bit of a challenge to take it all in.  Still, there is a lot of it that is very, very good and it's definitely worth the trip.  My personal favorites included TinyGhosts and Erica Ricardelli, both on the 11th floor.  Both use photography and a wicked sense of humor to great effect.

As an added incentive, the Peep dioramas from the annual Washington Post Peep Contest are on display.  You can actually see them in person!  (Nightmare in Pink is way, way cooler in person than the picture can really relate.)

PRO TIP:  Take the elevator up to the top floor when you start, and take the stairs down floor by floor.  The elevators get bogged down by too many people taking them one floor at a time.

Pretty much the coolest thing in the exhibit, though, was stopping in front of two different exhibits and saying, "Oh!  I went to high school with her!"  Who new my friends from back then were so talented.

How far away from your front door do you have to be before you decide that it's not worth it to go back and get your cell phone?

Really...  I'm curious how many other people out there would go back for it, and how far you would consider going.