Farewell until whenever.

It might be because I’m sitting here with one eye blown out from the dilation solution and the other with its smeary Macular HoleVision, but I’m thinking this will be my last blog until post-op. I’ve got some chores that must be done beforehand, and I’m going to do them.

But right now it’s a lovely evening, and I’m watching Alan install my new Shimano pedals on the new bike. A robin just went flap-flap-flap over my head, or it might have been a dragon. I feel really fucking weird right now.

“Don’t go out,” Alan counseled. “If you got in a wreck, the ER staff would be drilling into your skull, looking for the cerebral hemorrhage.”

Fortunately, for you? I have some great bloggage today:

Oh, wait — I have an update. The good eye with the floaters is merely having an age-related floater-thing problem. “No tears in the retina!” the chirpy ophthalmologist said, having lost her condescension from the last visit. Instead, she praised my good sense in having everything checked out 48 hours before the surgical event.

“So, am I just going to have to live with this?” I asked. FYI, my good-eye vision is of a translucent spider straddling a world speckled with black pepper.

“They’ll either migrate to another part of the eye, or your brain will learn to ignore them,” she said. Fucking bloody hell.

So, back to the bloggage:

My former congresswoman, reppin’ in Washington:

Washington — Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick said Monday she was ready to boldly go where others have not gone before and called for an international probe into space aliens.

After a day of hearing testimony from believers in alien life forms, Kilpatrick offered up herself to launch an effort with other countries to bring to light the existence of extraterrestrials.

“It’s important that we work with foreign governments,” an impassioned Kilpatrick said after she and five other former members of Congress heard nearly eight hours of testimony. “There’s been 10 or 15 already identified who have acknowledged this existence. I want to be part of that.”

If you can’t quite figure it out, this is her, out of a job, taking a gig with an alien-chasing organization that rented out the National Press Club to hold “congressional-style hearings” on extraterrestrial issues. Persons who resemble congressional representatives will then be YouTubed into eternity, scowling at witnesses giving valuable testimony on this vital issue. Extra-weird detail:

Also in the audience were a man and woman from Chicago wearing metal headbands with quartz to better conduct communication with extraterrestrial life.

All in all, I still prefer her to Mark Souder.

Those of you who are fans of Roy Edroso will enjoy this interview with None Other, which includes a clip of his band, the Reverb Motherfuckers. Roy bought Adrianne and me dinner when we were in Washington last fall, and I just lurve him to death. So there’s that.

Pinterest fails. Because Pinterest fails.

If Russell Brand really writes this well, I want to know why he’s a bleh musician and actor and not a writer. Because based on this, he’s a pretty fair writer.

Finally, I’m only a few chapters through The Prophets of Oak Ridge, but I’m really looking forward to the rest of it — a story of how three people penetrated the Oak Ridge Security Complex, and by “three people,” I mean a drifter, a house painter and an 82-year-old nun. So far, it’s a gripping yarn. Hope you enjoy it, too.

So that’s it for me. I have a big box of furniture to unpack, a lot of loose ends to tie up and a laser knife to go under. See you when I surface. Whenever that is.

Posted at 12:39 am in Current events, Detroit life, Same ol' same ol' |
 

89 responses to “Farewell until whenever.”

  1. Dexter said on May 1, 2013 at 2:48 am

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMDMP4Y1SC8

    We’ll see you later then. The Red Wings lost last night to the Ducks in playoff opening action. The Tigers won big. And Karzai has our tax money stashed every-damn-where, all in cash in grocery bags, courtesy of you and you and me. The CIA has been funding the war through Karzai via grocery bags full of cash, $360,000 per month for over 11 years. This is how Don Imus describes how he received his payola cash back in the 70s.
    This stinks.

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  2. Rana said on May 1, 2013 at 4:00 am

    Good luck with the surgery, Nancy. May the recovery be less onerous than feared.

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  3. MarkH said on May 1, 2013 at 4:21 am

    Nancy, thoughts and prayers to you as head into this ordeal. I had minor eye surgery once long ago as a teenager, but nothing like what awaits you. Got through fine, though. Hang in there. Your friends await your safe, recovered return to nn.c.

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  4. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 1, 2013 at 7:07 am

    Take your time, boss. We’ll be good. Grace and peace to you and your medical team, and healing mercies down the line.

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  5. Deborah said on May 1, 2013 at 7:16 am

    Will be thinking of you and missing this place. May your surgery be a snap and your recovery relaxing.

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  6. Julie Robinson said on May 1, 2013 at 7:39 am

    What Jeff said. We’ll wait for you on the other side.

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  7. alex said on May 1, 2013 at 7:59 am

    All in all, I still prefer her to Mark Souder.

    Beats the hell out of Mark Souder’s successor as well. At least her mind is open to science, even if only science fiction.

    I won’t go missing my daily dose of nn.c because we have the most wonderful archive here at our disposal and I seldom have the time to go back and enjoy it. But I’ll very much miss the interaction so I hope there’s a thread open for discussion of the news of the day and whatever is on people’s minds. This is such a wonderful community.

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  8. beb said on May 1, 2013 at 8:01 am

    socks? – check
    underpants? – check
    Bob Seger Cd in the player? – check

    Let the fun and games begin, ’cause the grown-ups ain’t home.

    Best of luck on the operation.

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  9. Suzanne said on May 1, 2013 at 8:10 am

    Good luck on the surgery and hopefully, the recovery will be swift and painless. Make sure your family waits on you and supplies your every whim.

    Mark Souder and now Stutzman. And we wonder why business and people aren’t flocking to NE Indiana…

    Also, I nearly spit out my morning java when I read: “international probe into space aliens”. I did occasionally listen to Art Bell on late night radio, so I am familiar wtih aliens and probes.

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  10. Colleen said on May 1, 2013 at 8:16 am

    Good luck with the surgery. We will definitely miss you and eagerly await your return!

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  11. James said on May 1, 2013 at 8:18 am

    Nancy:

    Good luck, and don’t stress out. Take the time to recover. Write a comic book about the experience. As the Internet patron saint of detached retinas, I herby bless this procedure. Domini, domini, domini.

    I had that other eye thing some years after my eye operation. They called it a post-retinal detachment, and described it as you did. It’s one of those getting old things, where the fluid in the eye (the vitreous humor) dries out and becomes more gelatin-like as we age, and the retina flakes off and causes floaters, which you just have to live with, apparently. Scared the bejesus out of me.

    So all I can say is, be of good humor. Vitreous humor, that is.

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  12. Kim said on May 1, 2013 at 8:27 am

    While I wish you didn’t have to endure the surgery and recovery, which sounds insane, I have to say I’m looking forward to the material you gather during and will share after. No way will that disappoint.

    Meanwhile, I thank God for quality health insurance and smart people who choose to deploy their intellect in the medical field.

    Oh, and rim shot for James’ vitreous humor crack.

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  13. Mark P said on May 1, 2013 at 8:34 am

    Yeah, we’ll wait here until you’re back.

    Regarding floaters etc in the eye — the human visual system is an amazing thing. You think you see with your eyes, but it’s your brain that does the job, and you would be surprised at the difference between what you “see” and what’s actually being sent from the eye to the brain. So, yes, your brain will almost certainly learn to ignore all the crap in your eye.

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  14. Jolene said on May 1, 2013 at 8:36 am

    Good luck to you, Nancy. Will be thinking about you and wishing you patience as you recover. Listen to the music and the audiobooks that you’ve been wishing you had time for.

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  15. Scout said on May 1, 2013 at 8:45 am

    Wishing you an easy procedure and a quick but relaxing recovery. Milk it! Meanwhile, I’m sure we can entertain ourselves with shared linkage and such.

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  16. coozledad said on May 1, 2013 at 8:52 am

    Mark P: That’s also the central lesson of LSD. We are constructs of a herd morality which foists a view of the world upon us which is ultimately confining and limits our pure natures.

    The world is actually a fluid neon paisley light show, and we are as krill in its waters.

    It’s a good thing college educations were cheaper when I was there.

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  17. Minnie said on May 1, 2013 at 8:54 am

    Yeah, your brain does learn to (mostly) ignore those floaters. They do make bird spotting uncertain, though, flying across your field of vision like that.

    Best of luck and care through the surgery and recovery See you when you get back.

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  18. Dave said on May 1, 2013 at 8:58 am

    May your procedure and recovery go well. You learn to look past the floaters, mine are most annoying in the AM.

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  19. Nancy said on May 1, 2013 at 9:12 am

    Good luck! My mornings won’t be quite the same. . . . Here’s a documentary you can watch if you get bored during your face-down recovery: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/04/warren_zevon_jackson_brown_one.html. Here’s a link to all the clips on Youtube: http://www.metafilter.com/95822/Wonderland-1977. Speaking of documentaries, “The Staircase” is really fascinating, if you have a few hours to kill (http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Staircase/70035095?strkid=1436470484_0_0&strackid=7e670cdbeb889dc5_0_srl&trkid=222336). You can also see the first episode here: http://www.sundancechannel.com/series/the-staircase. A new episode came out this year, updating the case.

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  20. brian stouder said on May 1, 2013 at 9:13 am

    Well, talk about your classic May-day post! Here’s wishing strength and all good things to our proprietress’s whole Co-Prosperity sphere. It is funny how much power this place has, upon one’s consciousness. All this news has me, every so often, taking deep breaths.

    Anyway – Good luck from your friends in the haunted forest of Stutzman-land; and, see you on the other side

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  21. Heather said on May 1, 2013 at 9:18 am

    Good luck! I’ll miss you and be sending you wishes for speedy healing. At least you can indulge in some guilt-free TV marathons. I know that is cold comfort, but it’s something.

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  22. Bob (not Greene) said on May 1, 2013 at 9:40 am

    Good luck with the surgery Nancy; and good luck as well with the recovery. Here’s to sharp focus. I’m sure I’ll be checking in daily out of force of habit, and my guess is that this thread will grow be be loooooong.

    Dexter, I’m just happy the Blackhawks got past a sluggish start to win their first game last night. Baseball will be torture here in Chicago all summer, so I’m hoping the Hawks last for a while. That Karzai stuff is just depressing. The absolute corruption of this nation is spectacular. It’s so ingrained and celebrated by those in power that we are well and truly screwed. A nation of imbeciles led by an oligarchy of charlatans.

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  23. adrianne said on May 1, 2013 at 9:41 am

    Nance, we’ll be thinking of you as you recuperate from the eye operation. In the immortal words of Dorothy Parker, “What fresh hell is this?”

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  24. Laurie said on May 1, 2013 at 10:04 am

    Nancy, you are in my prayers that everything goes well. Aging is not for sissies, is it? As part of it, we have to learn a new, unwanted vocabulary about various body parts, including eyes, and experience unwanted surprises. I have had floaters for over 5 years and yes my brain learned to adjust, I do not notice them. After a posterior vitreous detachment in each eye (exactly one year apart) 7 and 6 years ago, I still have to go to the retina specialist twice a year because, e.g., I’m a “high myope” and have higher risk for retinal detachment. I try to be consciously grateful for having insurance and that we live in a time where medical technologies have advanced so greatly–my eye doc gets very excited about it. But no one can be comfortable when they are having their eyes worked on. I had cataract surgeries 2 years ago and went through all the stuff with the drops, recovery, etc., although your immobility is a different challenge. “This, too, shall pass.” May be a cliche, but true. Thanks so much for your blog.

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  25. Bitter Scribe said on May 1, 2013 at 10:09 am

    Best wishes, Nancy.

    You’re right, Brand is a fine writer. I was startled by the depth and eloquence of his essay on Margaret Thatcher.

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  26. MichaelG said on May 1, 2013 at 10:38 am

    Jeez, Guys. Easy with that “on the other side” stuff.

    Best wishes, Nancy. I’m confident the surgery will be just fine. It’s the recovery period that will be rough. How long was that again?

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  27. Dorothy said on May 1, 2013 at 10:40 am

    I’m glad Laurie @24 said “Thanks so much for your blog.” It’s a good reminder to thank you for all the enrichment I gain from hanging out here. Many good wishes for the upcoming surgery and I hope time doesn’t go too slowly.

    I wonder, within the week – ten days that Nancy is unable to post – if we can keep commentary going to reach 300-400 comments?! Only time will tell..!

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  28. Peter said on May 1, 2013 at 10:41 am

    Good luck on your procedure and best wishes for a speedy recovery. It won’t be the same here, but I’m sure we’ll muddle through.

    Bob NG, I got a bad feeling about the Hawks – not so much for the gift goal Crawford gave away on their very first shot, but that the Hawks couldn’t get anything past a backup goaltender that was pressed into service when their regular goaltender got hurt during warmups. Not good….

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  29. A different Connie said on May 1, 2013 at 10:50 am

    called for an international probe into space aliens.

    I thought the aliens were generally assumed to be probing us.

    From a daily reader but infrequent commentor, I echo everyone’s wish for a successful surgery & recovery. The thought of eye surgery squicks me out.

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  30. A different Connie said on May 1, 2013 at 10:51 am

    test

    I swear I closed the italics tag. Sorry.

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  31. MarkH said on May 1, 2013 at 10:58 am

    Hijacking the Nancy medical thread momentarily.

    Pilot Joe — Is this 747 crash outside Kandahar yesterday not one for the books? Newscast speculation last night was that some of the heavy cargo may have shifted in the aircraft throwing it off balance. Judging by the video, I can’t buy that. It just plops out of the sky, straight down clearly losing lift for some reason. How do you hit take-off speed and have this happen? ALL engines simultaneously shut down? A stall from a too steep of a departure angle? A report said the taliban took credit, but how? No evidence of being hit by a missile or other weapon. Almost looks like CGI; makes no sense.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57582226/dramatic-video-appears-to-show-747-crash-in-afghanistan/

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  32. MarkH said on May 1, 2013 at 11:04 am

    What Laurie and Dorothy said.

    Nancy, can you arrange for Alan or Kate to occasionally post here so that we know things are going smoothly?

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  33. brian stouder said on May 1, 2013 at 11:07 am

    A different Connie –

    I used to do that, back in the day…and it would cause every subsequent post to go into italics!

    Got me fined and suspended from here, it did!

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  34. nancy said on May 1, 2013 at 11:27 am

    I’m hoping that by Monday, I’ll feel normal enough to maybe peck out a fresh post, just so y’all don’t have to grow the comment thread out so far.

    I just assembled all my special furniture. It’s pretty straightforward. Tested my sleeping aid, which I see as my greatest challenge. It’ll be, um, a challenge. But it’s doable.

    Thanks for all your good wishes, but for now, let’s just think toward next week and a return to normalcy. Of course the next few days promise to be lovely. Tulips blooming when I can only go out and peer straight down at them.

    The world is actually a fluid neon paisley light show, and we are as krill in its waters. Got that right, bub.

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  35. Dorothy said on May 1, 2013 at 11:29 am

    MarkH – that video, which I saw on the 10:00 news last night, scared the living shit out of me, to be perfectly blunt. It did not happen at Kandahar – it happened near Bagram Airfield – which is where my son is headed in a few weeks.

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  36. Connie said on May 1, 2013 at 11:36 am

    Nancy, I am sending positive vibes your way. I don’t know what I’ll do without you to kick off my weekday mornings, so the rest of you, it’s up to us for a few days.

    My library is closed for the day as we replace a leaking window wall, install new shelving, have an all staff staff meeting and a celebration lunch for our soon to be married children’s librarian. It’s not often we can have all staff for a meeting.

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  37. Joe K said on May 1, 2013 at 11:36 am

    Mark and Dorthy,
    Saw the video, looks like a rearward C.G. Shift to me, something could have broke loose and rolled backwards, causing the stall. The same thing happened in Dayton some years back with a dc-8 freighter.
    Pilot Joe

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  38. Connie said on May 1, 2013 at 11:37 am

    New Headline: 3 more suspects arrested in Boston Marathon bombing case: police . But no actual additional news. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/01/18001437-3-more-suspects-arrested-in-boston-marathon-bombing-case-police?lite

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  39. nancy said on May 1, 2013 at 11:48 am

    I saw that video, and knowing virtually nothing about aviation whatsoever, I said to myself, “It looks like they had some serious cargo shifting.” Just a hunch. It reminded me of what happens when I pack too much stuff in my bike’s rear panniers.

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  40. Kirk said on May 1, 2013 at 11:52 am

    Good luck, Nance. You’ll emerge into a brighter world.

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  41. Mark P said on May 1, 2013 at 11:57 am

    To a nonflyer, that video showed as clear a case of a stall as anything I can imagine. Why it stalled is the question. An experienced pilot knows what to do in a stall, so something must have prevented him from doing it. That might well have been a shift in cargo. It might also have been a pilot who knows what to do but can’t bring himself to believe he’s in a situation where he needs to do it. Pushing the nose down when you’re close to the ground must be a really, really hard thing to do.

    I remember a few years back a plane full of skydivers had a similar problem. Apparently all the skydivers ended up in the back of the plane, and once the nose went up, there was no way for them to go forward.

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  42. Bitter Scribe said on May 1, 2013 at 11:59 am

    I got a bad feeling about the Hawks – not so much for the gift goal Crawford gave away on their very first shot, but that the Hawks couldn’t get anything past a backup goaltender that was pressed into service when their regular goaltender got hurt during warmups.

    Except that they got two goals past him. Three, if you count the one that was waved off and shouldn’t have been.

    My heart sank when I heard that he has MS, though. How can you root against a guy like that? Although he played like someone who’s never been sick a day. I guess I’m glad that he had a good game but the Hawks still won.

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  43. Bonnie said on May 1, 2013 at 12:01 pm

    Good wishes for you, and I hope the recovery goes well.

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  44. brian stouder said on May 1, 2013 at 12:08 pm

    If I was in a ranty mood this May day, I’d go on and on about Indiana’s screwed-all-to-hell high-stakes I-STEP testing, which has crashed for two days in a row, and caused anxiety amongst our young folks (and no small amount of stress for their teachers and adminstrators)

    $50,000,000 to the testing service, and this is what we get?

    But no – we’ll skip that.

    The other thing I’d rant about is this rightwing NEED to blame the Islamic religion in general for acts of terror. How willfully stupid must a person be, to skip past all of the “excused” violence by people who are mis-fit products of Christian culture, so as to focus on mis-fit people of the Islamic culture?

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  45. Jolene said on May 1, 2013 at 12:08 pm

    James Fallows, who is an experienced pilot and aviation analyst, also thinks that shifting cargo may have been at fault in the Bagram crash.

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  46. Sherri said on May 1, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    Good luck, Nancy; looking forward to your return with a new look on the world!

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  47. Charlotte said on May 1, 2013 at 12:23 pm

    Thanks for the Russel Brand link Nancy — you’re right — he’s a terrific writer. He had an interesting piece about stumbling across Margaret Thatcher watering flowers, with handlers, a few weeks before she died — in the Guardian I think.

    Fingers crossed for the eye thing — I got a teeny tiny little sty this week and went into a terror-spiral that I was going BLIND! BLIND! So I am in awe of your courage (I know, I know, courage is having to do what we feel we don’t have any choice but to do but still….). I’d be eating benzos by the handfull and staring in terror like some baby wombat …

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  48. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 12:26 pm

    Re: the Congressional alien hearings. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Right, Mr. Speaker Oompa Loompa?

    Y’all will mock me, but I lit a candle and said a prayer for you when I went to mass this morning Nancy.

    And if aliens are going to be probed internationally, might as well put Matthew McConaughey and Jodie Foster in charge and a muzzle on James Woods.

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  49. MarkH said on May 1, 2013 at 12:31 pm

    Yes, the cargo-shift explanation now makes more sense. The weight and energy of the shift backwards would destroy all forward momentum. No forward speed, no lift. Still scary to watch.

    Correct, Dorothy. That’s what you get when all you remember is the TV maps blaring Kandahar and not the airbase location. Kabul much closer. All the best to your son.

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  50. Hattie said on May 1, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    All the best, Nancy. Fingers crossed for you!

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  51. Judybusy said on May 1, 2013 at 1:04 pm

    May you heal quickly and smoothly, Nancy! Someone way upthread stated they eagerly await your pithy observations on the whole thing; I do as well.

    Also, I nearly became a shitty coworker while reading the Pinterest fails thing. Guffawing while people are trying to work isn’t a good way to get crowned Ms. Popular in the office.

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  52. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 1:35 pm

    That plane appears to be ascending at an extremely steep angle over a very short distance. Which I imagine could cause cargo to break free and shift rearward. Not that I know anything about this stuff.

    Regarding Russell Brand, I can never get past the fact that he looks like an illustration of a virulent venereal disease, personified.

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  53. Diane L. said on May 1, 2013 at 1:59 pm

    Coming out of lurkdom to wish you a very successful surgery and speedy recovery.

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  54. 4dbirds said on May 1, 2013 at 2:09 pm

    Best wishes Nancy. Will miss you while you’re out.

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  55. Brandon said on May 1, 2013 at 2:35 pm

    Good luck with your surgery.

    ==
    I was wondering about your take on Jason Collins.

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  56. Dorothy said on May 1, 2013 at 2:40 pm

    Speaking of Pinterest fails, yesterday on my lunch hour I was Googling for tote bag patterns (free) because I’d seen one on Facebook from a craft site called Annie’s, and they are charging $9.98 for the pattern. It’s a TOTE BAG, not a Vogue dress design! So of course lots of website links popped up via Google. And I clicked on a few of them, and one, alarmingly, opened with a whole screen full of “adult-related” thumbnail pictures. I found the legit website via Facebook and sent her a private message so she’d know it seemed her site was hacked. She answered within 90 minutes or so and was so thankful I told her privately. She was turning over the information to her security company that is supposed to monitor stuff like that. Zoiks – her nice little crafty/pattern website and imagine the surprise from the church ladies doing a similar Google search like I did when they’d click on that!!

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  57. mark said on May 1, 2013 at 2:41 pm

    Best of luck and many prayers to you, Nancy.

    What a surprise about Jason Collins! I had no idea he was still playing in the NBA.

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  58. LinGin said on May 1, 2013 at 2:55 pm

    Wishing you good luck and a speedy recovery, Nancy. I try to focus on the miracle of modern technology that makes surgeries, excuse me, PROCEDURES, like this possible and to balance it off against what sounds like an uncomfortable recuperative period. (I had a partial thyroidectomy last December and, it was always referred to as a procedure although insurance billing was definitely of major surgery. And thankful, like you Nancy, that I have been able to afford the premiums to cover it).

    I thought of this blog’s proprietress and her readers when I received an e-mail from the University of Chicago Press. The first of every month I receive a link to a free e-book they offer. I received a special mailing today that is good until May 5. Rather than a midlist title from their catalogue they are offering Neil Steinberg’s “You Were Never in Chicago” which is a current title as a free download for the next five day. (Considering the cloth version is $25.00 this is unbeatable.) Here is the link:

    http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/freeEbook.html

    Depending on what device you use you may need to download a specific reader. I use my iPad and you need Bluefire to access it on that device.

    Again, good thoughts going out to you Nancy.

    Linda

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  59. Jerri said on May 1, 2013 at 3:42 pm

    Nancy, sending healing thoughts and wishing you and your family all the best.

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  60. Jeff Borden said on May 1, 2013 at 4:25 pm

    I’m will soon be sending off some tunes to you, Nancita, which I have dubbed BRMA aka Butt Rock My Ass. This is a reference to one of Kate’s quote. You won’t need your eyes, just your ears to enjoy.

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  61. Jerry said on May 1, 2013 at 5:01 pm

    Nancy,

    Best wishes for a smooth operation and a speedy, trouble free recovery.

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  62. Charlotte said on May 1, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    The Pinterest Fail site reminded me of the old Ray Rayner show in Chicago — every Friday Ray would try, and fail, to do a craft that matched the example craft. It was wonderful. Then at the end of the year, whoever won the guess-the-jellybeans-in-the-jar game would get to choose from the whole years worth of crafts, laid out on tables — the good ones on one side, and Ray’s misshapen ones on the other. Usually, the kids picked Ray’s crafts.

    The things a person remembers …

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  63. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 5:12 pm

    Nancy, get the new Stooges album for your recovery. I’d go Loud Fast Rules if I had to go through it. Husker Du, early and particularly sloppy Mats, Gun Club, Sonic Youth (although it is terribly disappointing that Thurston Moore ruined a 27 year marriage to Kim Gordon by cheating, they made great albums), Screaming Blue Messiahs (particularly), maximum buzz, hum and wah. Oh, Flat Duo Jets and Dexter’s and Detroit’s demon child, Jack White in all manifestations.

    Nobody that ever has or ever will vote for Louis Gohmert should ever be allowed to own a firearm, much less to ever vote for anybody for anything again.

    Nearly incoherent Kelly Ayotte gets a new one burned by a Newtown victim. This shithead is going to end up a half-senator like her hero is a half-goobernor.

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  64. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 5:30 pm

    Charlotte@62: Who was the PBS painting show guy with the Firesign peyote voice, the blue work shirt, and the paint-o-matic oils technique. Ethereal light brown white guy fro too. I always wished they’d make a mashup of that fellow with his voice over Maggie the ageless doing yoga.

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  65. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 5:34 pm

    Or I’d get somebody to make sure marijuana wan’t contraindicated and get somebody to show me Hasil Adkins videos:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWvV9CXNNJ0

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  66. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 5:35 pm

    Oh, and I meant to ass, Jeff Flake has stated publicly that he is “less popular than pond scum”.

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  67. jwfromnj said on May 1, 2013 at 5:54 pm

    Best wishes Nancy! You impress me with your acceptance. I’d need horse tranquilizers to sleep face down without rolling around in my sleep.

    As an airliner fanatic I’m wondering if the cargo may have shifted due to a steep climb out to avoid a possible Taliban sam (missle) attack, plus the hot and high atmosphere in the area. plenty of terrain to worry about also.

    That opinion is being bounced around on airliners.net. It’s a pretty well informed group. They pegged the recently found 9-11 debris as a flap actuator within minutes and days before the mainstream media figured out It wasn’t part of the landing gear.

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  68. Brandon said on May 1, 2013 at 6:26 pm

    @Prospero: Bob Ross.

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  69. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 6:38 pm

    Right, Brandon. And was not Bob Ross wonderful? Thanks. Bro. Most soothing voice ever? Very cool guy, in my opinion.

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  70. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 6:46 pm

    jw@67: I still know nothing sbut this shit, but some failure in the wing controls makes sense, Climbing too fast is a dead giveaway..

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  71. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 6:50 pm

    Nancy, I know you will be fine. I do pray for people I care about, and it usually comes out good.

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  72. LAMary said on May 1, 2013 at 7:53 pm

    Good luck with the surgery and I hope all the tedious uncomfortable times will pass quickly.

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  73. Kim said on May 1, 2013 at 7:57 pm

    Pros – ain’t nobody ever gonna give you shit for being compassionate. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. To direct it at the lead stranger (for some of us at least) of this virtual clan is a wonderful thing.

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  74. Prospero said on May 1, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    Rifht: Bob Ross. Most likely the coolest guy that ever lived. I would love to make beautiful paintings with such little effort.

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  75. Dexter said on May 2, 2013 at 2:43 am

    prospero, the good people at the town hall meeting were oh too kind to Kelly Ayotte. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3032619/#51739428

    Also, yesterday marked the 93rd anniversary of the longest baseball game in major league history, the contest between Brooklyn’s Trolley Dodgers and the Beaneaters from Boston, sometimes known as the Braves.
    Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger each pitched 26 innings. I wrote to Joe Oeschger back in 1962 and he sent me a card with his signature. No treasure…it is worth eight bucks, however. http://research.sabr.org/journals/joe-oeschger

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  76. MaryRC said on May 2, 2013 at 3:09 am

    Hope everything goes well with the surgery. My eyes are usually full of floaters because I have the very bad habit of rubbing them, but the doctor who said your brain learns to ignore them was right. When I consciously think “I have floaters”, they’re there — brown dots swimming before my eyes. And yet the rest of the time, I don’t even see them.

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  77. redoubt said on May 2, 2013 at 8:10 am

    Delurking to say best wishes on your surgery (and cold compresses when necessary).

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  78. coozledad said on May 2, 2013 at 8:42 am

    Stop teachin’ them babbies how to think. How will we ever be able to sell ’em a face full o’ chaw?
    http://alicublog.blogspot.com/2013/05/against-reason.html#disqus_thread

    This is the old ‘thinking with the gut and heart’ shit Mussolini used to set Italy firmly on the path to long-term imbecility. He made the derp run indefinitely.

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  79. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 2, 2013 at 8:52 am

    May all your anxious anticipation be dispelled, and your experience be better than you’d hoped. For healing and wholeness we pray to the Lord . . .

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  80. Dorothy said on May 2, 2013 at 9:02 am

    So beautifully stated, Jeff. “anxious anticipation” – I think I’m overflowing with that these days. I have to work on getting rid of that. It ain’t healthy.

    It is a gloriously stupendous morning here in Gambier, OH today! I wish you all could experience it – the flowers along Middle Path at the college are just overwhelming this week. Happy Thursday, all.

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  81. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 6, 2013 at 6:42 am

    Power on.

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  82. Connie said on May 6, 2013 at 7:04 am

    So glad you are back.

    So Brian, I thought of you as I saw numerous articles about Florence (of the Machine) being a best dressed at the Iron Man 3 premiere.

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  83. jcburns said on May 6, 2013 at 8:28 am

    Although I facetiously told Nancy otherwise, the server outage (for that’s what it was) from early Thursday morning until Monday morning had NOTHING to do with Nance’s surgery, and was one of those “we have to move stuff from box a to box b without warning” things that then got complicated by them screwing up some subtle IP number stuff and then apparently not working at all over the weekend.

    Good timing? Dunno. Glad everything’s back up.

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  84. Connie said on May 6, 2013 at 8:34 am

    I found it interesting that both site and hostess were down.

    You see that? Site. Not sight. Not cite. This is not the first or second time I have said this here.

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  85. brian stouder said on May 6, 2013 at 8:45 am

    Connie – Florence is magnificent, isn’t she?

    And aside from that example of natural magnificence, Dorothy is right about all the beautiful flowers everywhere. Yesterday, our 14 year old daughter (Shelby) and I picked out a few flats of flowers to plant in front of the house, and then got our hands dirty putting them in.

    It was marvelous, altogether.

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  86. Peter said on May 6, 2013 at 9:13 am

    Whoo, I was getting worried there for a minute.

    And Connie, didn’t you mean to say that both sight and site were down?

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  87. brian stouder said on May 6, 2013 at 9:18 am

    Oh, and JC – just between us, the fact that this whole internet thing works as well as it does is a continual mystery/miracle to me.

    (by way of saying – thanks for all you continually do behind the scenes)

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  88. Jolene said on May 6, 2013 at 11:40 am

    Nice to “hear” your voices again. I missed you all.

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  89. brian stouder said on May 6, 2013 at 1:57 pm

    Jolene – same here!

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