if...

i lived in springfield, i'd look like this:

has anyone gone to see the movie yet? i think i'm gonna wait until the crowds die down and i'm a little more mobile ;) i could go for either of these drinks right now...especially a cherry squishee.

wha???

sexual promiscuity and threat of disease?!? yeah, THAT'S something to be known for... definitely one of my favorite cuisines though.

You're Thailand!

Calmer and more staunchly independent than almost all those around you, you have a long history of rising above adversity.  Recent adversity has led to questions about your sexual promiscuity and the threat of disease, but you still manage to attract a number of tourists and admirers.  And despite any setbacks, you can really cook a good meal whenever it's called for.  Good enough to make people cry.


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

nuthin'...

else to do but random quizzes.

You're The Great Gatsby!

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Having grown up in immense wealth and privilege, the world is truly at your doorstep. Instead of reveling in this life of luxury, however, you spend most of your time mooning over a failed romance. The object of your affection is all but
worthless--a frivolous liar--but it matters not to you. You can paint any image of the past you want and make it seem real. If you were a color of fishing boat light, you would be green.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

ri-ight. i WISH i would've grown up wealthy and privileged. nevertheless, compared to 90% of the rest of the world, i guess i did. oh well, at least it's a book i like ;)

similarities...

it's gonna cost him $52 million and six years...



and he no longer will make $96,000 a year...



my raspberry torte spoonbender, meanwhile, cost $2.79...



guess we all got what we deserved...

among the three, guess who's going to have the better weekend! i truly thought i was until i saw the nutritional values on it. oh well, it'll be worth the pain ;)

the wait...

is over but i don't think i'm ready yet. another weight has entered the picture though.

i've been back at work for a week now. and it hasn't been too bad. lois drives me up to the back door and even opens them for me...and the elevator is a cinch. however, getting in the office is kind of awkward since the door opens up to the left. it's a bit of a struggle to push the lever down and the door ajar while i'm jostling to gain position before it whacks my leg, wedges me into the jamb, or knocks me off the crutches.

talk about wide-eyed panic.

well, no more. as of today, i have been cleared to put some weight on the left leg. thing is, it kinda freaks me out. i've finally grown accustomed to the orthopedic boot (although i'm at wit's end), which is even comfortable now. just putting a little weight on it is strange, not because it has been 5 weeks...but because of the angle of the ankle. the way my leg is positioned in the boot makes for more of a goose step w/ a nutcracker flair. do you know what i mean? if i'm not careful, that added three pounds of momentum will send me RIGHT (or left?) into a wall.



guess it's better than two steps back...and it'll be awhile before i can jump to the left ;)

rebus...

time.

what phrase do you come up w/ when these are put together?

i think you get this. got a pretty cool postcard from three gals who are in the last week of a month-long trip to china and japan. originally, these twentysomethings were looking for fares when they contacted me. unfortunately, i couldn't find available seats for their travel dates, so they ended up buying through someone else. however, they purchased their china visas through us...kind of a consolation prize, i guess.

anyway, they heard about my leg predicament when one of them came to pick up the visas and passports. and wouldn't ya know it, they were nice enough to send me a postcard :) makes me want to go to china more than ever!

what...

a pleasant surprise! some terrific person (she knows who she is) sent me a get well card with this stuffed in it. awww...thanks! can't wait to use it :) meanwhile, make sure you all replace the word, music, with *$$ when you watch the video, 'k?

man...what crazy outfits! a fitting song though ;)

down...

to watch this movie. gotta love fred astaire and cyd charisse (maybe it's those long legs). besides, they sing 'that's entertainment' in it ;) after a day of shopping and eatin', this is just about our speed. god, was it hot today or what? i sure wish it would rain...the monsoonal flow is already a week late and it looks like it won't swoop down for another. btw, here's a cute number from the movie...fred astaire, nanette fabray, and jack buchanan are triplets who would like to off one another ;)

wish me...

luck. i'm actually going back to work today. it's kinda funny...the first three weeks of recuperation, i was going stark mad. the idleness was driving me bonkers. however, this past week was good...i was getting into lying around, puttering around in the transport chair, and goofing around in general.

and now i have to go back to this...such bliss...ugh. i wish my workspace looked this comfortable. i mean, check out that 70's stereo in the top left corner...bet i could dig out some old 8-tracks to play on that baby ;)

i hope...

you're not eating right now because i've finally downloaded some pics. don't say i didn't warn ya!

this is a pic taken a few days after the surgery. i love reading the sunday paper...but without the lower left leg adornment. so this is what it feels like to recuperate from a double break and totally detached ligaments. hmmm...where's my worst enemy? i've got some wishes!

got a visitor. sophie's only nice because i save scraps of meat off my plate to help fill her belly, which could double as a sausage casing. she's returning a favor; i spent a week w/ her on the loveseat when she first entered this home, all skinny and coughing. now i'm the pathetic one ;)

the area right beneath my kneecap to my toes is a technicolor bruise. this is the side of the ankle that had to have the ligaments reattached. the pain was pretty sharp for a couple days, but it has been a non-issue for a couple weeks now. next step is to remove the tape covering the stitches...ewww!

of course, this is the star of the show. you get a good idea of how long the plate is and its six screws. the pain has hovered between 2-3 for awhile. i'm just wondering when it's all gonna resemble a leg again so i can hassle everyone at the airport.


nothing like a side-by-side comparison! this is what the leg looks like after a long (and liberating) warm shower. i know i probably shouldn't have kept my leg down for so long but do you know how much dead skin came off? i had to scrub the sole three times...flake-o-rama!

kinda...

grouchy right now. went to get a haircut/lunch/groceries this afternoon. nothing bad happened, it was just being out for three hours and not elevating the leg much during that time.

glad to get the haircut though. had i waited another week, i would've woefully found out that my stylist was on a short vacation to visit w/ her daughter, who will have a week off from the naval base in monterey bay, CA. so it was good timing to go in today. as usual, she cut my hair short and tried to convince me to spike up my hair a bit w/ her pomade. yeah, everyone else thinks it's cute only because the 'do is not on THEIR heads...it only makes me look like skeezix.

had lunch at silver mine subs. we were armed w/ a BOGO lunch coupon. so for $8.83 (plus tip), we got a two medium subs, two bags o' chips, and two bladder bursting drinks. oh yeah, we shared a cripple creek and a dodge city. while silver mine doesn't have the best sammiches, a lunch for two for less than $11 is certainly a good deal. i should also mention that they are open 'til 3 AM AND deliver...subway don't do dat!

of course, the real excitement was to come at the store! now, what could be so exciting about grocery shopping, when many people would rather have their eyeballs plucked out... well, for one, i LOVE going to the grocery store. even in my state, hitting almost every aisle is nearly blissful for me. before CubFoods hightailed it out of colorado, i used to frequent one after midnight and wander their aisles aimlessly for a good hour; their stuff was just so different than our ho-hum kingsoopersafewayalbertson's.

really though, it wasn't the fact that i was going to the grocery store for the first time in a month. nope. the REAL reason for my unbridled excitement was to operate one of the terribly beat up electric shopping carts! you know, the ones that putter along at a snail's pace but back up at 50 mph! that makes for some super scary maneuvering, especially around the deli counter and the produce aisles...it's like bowling for shoppers. unfortunately, i wasn't able to unleash my 'driving' skills upon any massive pyramidal soup displays.

damn ;)

i did, though, almost take out a display of candy when i saw these. i know they're still readily available in many establishments...but it's like seeing something for the first time in many moons. it was fitting that the display was called 'remember when.' all the candy in there reminded me of my '70s childhood...boston beans, beemans gum, salt water taffy, lemonheads, chuckles, circus peanuts, black cows, bit o honey, and necco wafer candy (one of my faves...must be the anthrax-like substance dusted on the thin wafers).

have boot...

will travel.

well, the follow-up appointment on thursday was full of good news. the x-rays looked very promising...the plate is settling in perfectly and i'm out of the cast. unfortunately, they put me in an orthopedic boot similar to this one.

and is it heavy...

i've got another appointment with the surgeon this thursday so he can have a look at it; a physician assistant saw me for the first post-op. hopefully, the doc can give me a window regarding when i can go back to work. although it'd be nice to get six weeks off, i don't think i could stand it. i'm thinking that a month will just about have me in tears...i'm running out of things to do ;)

meanwhile, on this hot day, i'm blogging, reading the paper, watching tv, and finishing up this netflixx selection.



i so want some gelato...but not while the CC arts festival is going on. talk about mayhem. you know, it had been losing money the last 5-10 years. i wonder if it's going to make a profit this year. i kinda hope it dies...i think it has lost its luster and usefulness. fifteen years ago it was cool...now it's lame and needs to be shot.

time...

to get back to bed. although i was quite masochistic in sitting up for a few hours and visiting w/ friends earlier this week, my limit is still about 90 minutes before my lower back starts talking to me.

this afternoon, i'm going in for my post-op exam. i really hope it's all good news. every time i accidentally whacked the foot...and saw stars in 'nearby' andromeda...i'd play out worst case scenarios in my head. foolish but oh-so-real. anyway, i'll probably have an update after 4PM.

meanwhile, here's something i stole from a myspacefriend...it's kind of amusing:

These are the winning entries of the 2006 Washington Post's Mensa Invitational, which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supplying a new definition.

The 2006 winners are:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying or building a house, rendering the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize that it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes and it's a serious bummer.

13. Decafalon: (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

14. Glibido: All talk and no action.

15. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

16. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

And the winners are:

1. Coffee, (n.) the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted, (adj.) appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

3. Abdicate, (v.) to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade, (v.) to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-Nilly, (adj.) impotent.

6. Negligent, (adj.) absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

7. Lymph, (v.) to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle, (n.) olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence, (n.) emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash, (n.) a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle, (n.) a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude, (n.) the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon, (n.) a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster, (n.) a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism, (n.) the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent, (n.) an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

de...

throned!

every 4th of july, i try to keep you all abreast of the 'world famous' hot dog eating contest held at Coney Island. and for the past six years, takeru kobayashi, THE human eatin' machine, has obliterated the competition. well, this year, a new champ has emerged. some skinny american guy, joey chestnut, outdistanced the king by three dogs.

the score? 66-63. yep, that's dogs and buns...in TWELVE minutes! mr. chestnut was cramming a hot dog down at a rate of one per 10.9 seconds! IN-sane!

is it me or does it look like they're really struggling to keep 'em down?

general...

fatigue. he's the six star (general) who oversees your goingoutofyermind crazedapeshit cabinfever whenyou're stuckinbed foreighteen hoursaday.

the last couple days, i've had visitors while lois was at work. on monday, my friend, barb, for whom i've played on various teams over the past ten years, came by to drop off some travel guidebooks from the library which she works. lessee here...we've got sumpin' from south america:



and two selections from asia:



it was really good to catch up w/ her :) she brought lunch from this place...a new chain of fast mediterranean/greek...and this sublime beverage, one of my favorite mexican beers. she even brought a get well card signed by a few people whom i really dig (pun intended).

and yesterday, an old high school friend, james, came by w/ his wife and two kids to hang out w/ immobile me ;) although they live in the memphis area, they try to come out to denver to visit every year or so. we ordered delivery from this restaurant. it's just down the street...great prices...super quick delivery...and pretty decent food.

ugh...i think i'm gonna hafta cut this posting a little short. my tailbone has been killing me from all the company. you know how you try to stick it out and change positions...even if you should be back in bed, elevating and icing...and quietly letting the brain turn into mush in front of the tv.

i was thrilled to have the company of great people...i just wish it were in different circumstances ;)

happy 4th!

Lady Godiva

...was a freedom rider
She didn't care if the whole world looked.
Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her
She was a sister who really cooked.

Isadora was the first bra burner
And you're glad she showed up. (Oh yeah)
And when the country was falling apart
Betsy Ross got it all sewed up.

what am i watching on netflixx now?

yep...good ol' maude. and just as any good norman lear-produced '70s sitcom (e.g., all in the family, good times, one day at a time, sanford and son, and mary hartman, mary hartman), the issues tackled on this series were pretty controversial in content for comedy serials back then. whether it was race, women's rights, politics, or the general mental makeup of our changing society, the abovementioned shows were pioneers in addressing things that were previously considered taboo in american television.

and maude findlay was a wise-cracking, fiercely independent feminist (and activist) who often made heckling men cower. even as a kid, i was fascinated by her caustic one-liners. plus, ya gotta love those early '70s outfits ;)

wow...

this movie just came in from netflixx...talk about a thrill ride!



i don't like nascar/daytona/indy500 racing...but i've always liked top fuel dragster (guess i only have a 5 second attention span).

anyway, this documentary is one of the finest i've ever seen. it's about the baja 1000, a wild road race from Ensenada (MX) to La Paz (MX). this 1000 mile torture fest is undertaken by something like 27 classes of vehicles (from motorcycles to trophy trucks to dune buggies to non-modified pre-1982 volkswagen beetles). usually, teams are comprised of 2-4 riders/drivers...but there's one rider, mouse mccoy, who opts to ride the entire race by himself on his supercross bike...talk about sheer madness!

i know some people will surely bring up the fact that the tourdefrance is usually more than twice the baja 1000's distance...but those guys get three weeks to do it on their expensive bikes. the entrants to this race are allowed...a measly 32 hours to finish!


you know, even if you're not a motocross/off-roading fan (which i'm not), this is still a very worthwhile documentary. the filmmakers used 55 cameras and multiple helicopters to shoot 250 hours worth of footage. in condensing it, they worked 18-20 hour days for six months straight to get it whittled down to its 97-minute incarnation. maybe one of these days, i'll get to witness this spectacle. don't worry, j, we'll go to the tour too...even if it takes us 10+ years, we're gonna go!