Cheese

Cambozola: a German cow's milk blue cheese.  Very creamy with just a touch of blue.  For those that don't like strong blues, this is probably a good place to start.  Reminds me of the more recent Saint Agur blue.

Cheese

Tomme: A French, sweet, raw cow's milk.  The rind is almost a stinky cheese's rind, but very mild and the center is smooth and a little sweet.  Washed down with something sweet, it's very nice.

Post-Op 2

The after effects of this past surgery are much different than my first. 

- My vision is significantly worse in my left eye.  Part of this is because one of the remaining tumors (I had three left at the beginning of this surgery and I now have 1.5 - they couldn't even attempt one due to how far into a ventricle it is, which we knew pre-op) is described as "velcro" and the surgical team tried about everything to get it off, as radiation on the optic nerve is less than ideal.  The tumor is still on the optic nerve, so radiation will need to be tried, but it will be the 5-8 week low dosage of radiation in August/September versus the 1 week Cyberknife.

- The headache pain is more of a constant hammer rather than a radiating pain.

- The post-op prescriptions are wreaking havoc on my hormones, but it's a trade-off between temporary hormone insanity and brain swelling.

- Cosmetically, my face is a little lopsided.  There's still a little bit of swelling which will go away, but due to my anatomy (my chewing muscle and the size of my frontal sinus), the team had to do a little internal reshaping of the left side of my face. It's not terrible, but it does look like I'm permanently puzzled about something.

- The disequilibrium is totally weird.  I can walk and balance, as long as I'm focused.  However, the swaying particularly as I try to eat, is a little bit funny.

- I have an awesome scar.

Left Frontotemporal Orbitozygomatic Craniotomy

So my next surgery is June 4.  Half the vision in my left eye is gone, which apparently is being caused by three remaining tumors sitting on top of the left optic nerve.

Above is a picture of the two bone flaps that the two surgeons will remove after they make an incision from just the right of my midline at my hairline to the middle of my left ear and pull down my face (my face!!!).  I'm really curious how the surgeons work around my eye to cut the bone behind it.  Then the surgeons will try to resect (i.e., cut into) as little of my brain as possible to get to the tumors on my optic nerve and the part of one that is extended up into my left ventricle.

Here's a paper co-written by Dr. Spetzler from Barrow (my surgeons are Dr. White and Dr. Little).  Every time I read it, I have a little freak out, but each time my freak out is a little less (or maybe not).

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/documents/singerlab/files/Zabramski%20et%20a.pdf

I've been told that the likelihood of getting all of my tumors is slim and that the goal is get create separation between the optic nerve and any remaining tumors so that I can have radiation (i.e., CyberKnife) in September.

Grizz's 40th!

Cheese

Another J&J cheese:

Istara Ossau-Iraty:  A classic French semi-hard cheese made from sheep's milk.  It's smooth, light, and creamy with just a slight hint of nuttiness. The flavors come in waves starting with a hint of salt at the beginning, progressing to the creamy sheep flavor, and ending with a rich tang.  The rind is exceptional and changes the experience considerably.  In other words, it's delicious. 

Thank you!

Cheese

Liz and I are not on our way to Paris and Barcelona (we had tickets to leave today, but well, you know, the tumor decided otherwise), but that doesn't mean we're not eating good cheese.

Our good friends, John and Jamie P., sent us a surprise package with four cheeses.  The first:

Pierre Robert: an aged, pasteurized, cow's milk cheese from France.  Buttery rind, with a sweet, semi-hard inside.  Very smooth.  This 3.5 oz cheese lasted about 30 minutes before we finished it.  We're usually not like that with cheeses, but we couldn't help ourselves.

One down, three to go.  Thank you J&J!

Phoenix Brain Tumor Walk

My family is participating in this year's Phoenix Brain Tumor Walk on March 16.  If you're interesting in donating to this worthy cause, or participating, please do so by clicking on the link below:

Phoenix Brain Tumor Walk

"Portlandia"?

What I learned in Portland this week:

- Women wear big giant glasses
- I'm in the beardless minority
- Single speed bikes or die
- Bikers are crazy
- If the forecast says rain, it probably just means cloudy
- On the off chance it does rain, it'll be mild
- No more leather soled shoes
- I've been to lots of cities where food trucks are the rage, but Portland is ridiculous.  Whole parking lots are dedicated to them (i.e., I saw one lot with almost 40 trucks crammed in)
- I didn't hear "cacau" once, but I wanted to say it, but not for the reason you think
- If I was a beer drinker, I'd be in beer drinkers heaven
- The people begging for money aren't nearly as aggressive as those in the SF Bay area
- Having a car is very inconvenient
- It has an awesome foodie reputation and I've eaten lots of good food, but haven't had anything special yet

More to come.

A Summary

I'm a 39 year old male and had my transsphenoidal surgery at Barrow on January 23.  My tumor was a 3.7cm x 3.7cm x 3.7cm non-functional pituitary macroadenoma.  It had four oblations.  Unfortunately, two of the oblations remain post-surgery and I'll find out after my 3 month follow up MRI what we are going to do (i.e., radiation or a craniotomy).

Post-surgery, my endocrinologist told me that I have pan-hypopituitarism and have had to take testosterone and hydrocortisone.  I'm still debating whether the testosterone or cortisol withdrawal were worse.  The testosterone withdrawal made my skin burn and caused insane night sweats (i.e., I woke up in pools of sweat).  The cortisol withdrawal made me feel like I was going to pass out and die.

Additionally, I have a small csf leak (I take my temperature several times a day to make sure my temperature hasn't gone above 100), which tastes pretty awful, and my headaches are worse now as compared to pre-surgery.  I still have moments throughout the day when I feel woozy and need to take a break.  I also have real problems sleeping, as the headaches wake me up.  My average wake up time is 2:30.  The long days have given me the chance to watch almost all of Arrested Development (what a great show!).

All that being said, I'm much happier and calmer than I was just a week and a half ago.  I was an irritable mess.  My deepest apologies to those affected.

I shall now stand up and hope my back stops sweating.

Side Effects

Some interesting side effects:

- I can only really taste sweets right now.  Salty and savory are beyond me (temporarily).  I can get spicy, but only on the side of my tongue and it's just the heat, not the flavor.  Chipotle, which I love, was tasteless mush.  Good thing it's temporary.

- Man-o-pause: Hot flashes and night sweats (standing and just dripping).  Very treatable and in fact, I'm looking forward to it.

- It's amazing how much your mood and overall feeling of comfort is dependent on the pituitary.  Spatial awareness, balance, nausea, etc.  All the hormones that the balance these out for us are managed by this little pea sized gland.

Going EMO

The doctor wouldn't let me keep even a small piece of the parts of my tumor that he was able to remove.  He said even if he could give it to me, it had the consistency of oatmeal.  I always imagined it being more like a rubber bouncy ball. 

So the good news is

umm

well

oh, yes.  I wasn't part of the <.1% that die during surgery.  I know I should be more grateful.

The bad news is that I'll be back in three months for what appears to be some kind of awfulness.  Not even my pain meds can ease the dread of what's probably yet to come.

As you can tell, I'm feeling pretty emotional and sharing.  I probably was all along, but my tumor probably repressed my need to share my emotions.  So if I start crying on the phone or getting all emotional on you, it's not because something terrible is going to happen, it's because something amazing has been taken away.

Here's goodbye to my Vulcan self.

And always remember, Dirtbiking Saves Lives.

The Latest ...

My surgery is on 1/23.  This surgery will be endoscopic transsphenoidal (i.e., through the nose).  Due to the size and placement of my tumor, particularly the nobules, there is an 90% chance I'll need a follow up surgery in 3 - 4 months via craniotomy (i.e., cut open the skull and create a bone flap).  My vision is pretty jacked up.  The surgery could make it worse. 

Despite all of this, I ate some amazing cheese this evening.

Rush Creek Reserve: An American cheese in the fashion of Vacherin Mont d'Or.  I'd need to do a side by side comparison to tell the difference.  Rush Creek Reserve seemed a little more smooth and less tangy.  It was delicious.

An email ...

from a good friend.

"Studies have shown that some tumors are caused by compulsive masturbation on business trips. And the growth of said tumors is heightened when said masturbation happens when a fancy leather belt is placed around your neck.

I heard that's the kind of tumor you have. Is that true? Let me know because I want to write about you on my blog.



Hope you're gonna live dude."

Some of you know him.  First one to guess correctly gets to name my tumor.

Plankton

Sorry, that was my tumor talking.

Whoa!

I just watched a video of a 2.5cm pituitary tumor being removed.  Lots of cutting.  Then I made the mistake of reading more about my tumor's tentacles and where they are located.

Shit.

Cheese

Latte Da Caerphilly - An American aged goat cheese.  Semi-hard cheese full of buttery goat flavor, with just a hint of almonds.  Very nice.

MM

Every time I hear Modest Mouse, I can picture clear as day going to Coney Island with Liz and Zane (in a stroller) in the summer of 2005 and watching Modest Mouse in some kind of crazy concrete pit while eating street meat. I remember heavily tatted men and women telling us how cute our little baby boy was. Good times.

Coues Deer Hunt Sunrise

No bucks this year, but what a hunt. I've never seen as many does as I saw this year. Unit 34A is where it's at. I'll be back next year and hopefully I'll be able to stay more than two days.

"Hitler Implements SAP"

All Things Must End

And thus ends my winning streak of voting for the winning presidential candidate.  Every election since 1996 (for some reason I didn't vote in 1992 - bad citizen).  I knew it was a longshot for Romney to win, but I didn't think he'd lose every battleground state, but one (and pending Florida).  I also didn't think Romney would lose the popular vote by 2 million votes (at this point).  The two things I think hurt Romney the most were: 1) No Latino support and 2) Opposing the auto bailout.  #2 was a one time occurrence for the GOP, but #1 is a huge problem for them.

Here's to avoiding the fiscal cliff.  Cheers!

281 - 257

My final best case prediction for Governor Romney is that he still loses to President Obama.  I think it likely that Governor Romney loses CO and VA as well, which would result in a 303-235 victory for President Obama.

Governor Romney will likely win the popular vote.  From a % standpoint, if President Obama wins 303-235, but loses the popular vote, it still wouldn't be the largest electoral college margin of victory (13%) for a candidate that lost the popular vote.  That honor belongs to William Henry Harrison (16%).

2012 Vote

I voted for Mitt Romney on Monday.  In 2008, I voted for President Obama.  I like many of the things that the President has done, including moving the country further along the healthcare continuum towards Universal Health Care, which I support (with private options for those that want additional/better care).  The President's foreign policy has been excellent.  Of course there are many things I disagree with the President on, but for the most part, I think he has done a pretty good job.

I voted for Mitt Romney on the basis of my faith.  We share a faith that I believe he represents well.  My faith is the most important thing in my life.  Having a person of my faith in the role of President would enable more to come to a better knowledge and understanding of my faith.  I think that spreading the good news is what God wants and I believe that Mitt Romney becoming President would be a great tool in the Lord's hands.  I recognize that Mitt wouldn't be an active evangelist, but simply by being in the role, he would be a passive evangelist and I think that would be a good thing.

Do I agree with everything or most of what Mitt Romney and the Republican Party have campaigned on?  No.  In fact, I think the Republican Party platform is one that would continue the increase in inequality within the United States, which I find abhorrent.  However, I think that if Mitt Romney became President that he would discard most of the extreme views of the right and would be a very moderate President.  That's something I find politically palatable.

Obama Strikes Back

Good debate for the President.  Average debate for the Governor, with a few stumbles.  Not sure how it will affect the polls.  I suspect that it will change little and that the president is ahead 290-248 in the Electoral College.

The Governor needs to step up his game for the next debate, as he's shown weakness in Foreign Policy.

V.P. Debate

I listened to the debate live on NPR as I was driving to the airport.  It sounded like Biden was really having his way with a very timid Ryan.  Was he rude, sure.  Was it effective rudeness, yes.

Then I watched the replay on CNN.  V.P. Biden's body language and expressions were terrible.  It was worse than Al Gore's 2000 first debate performance.

On substance, it seemed to depend on the topic.  Biden came across as more caring for those suffering.  Except for one instance, I thought Ryan had him on foreign policy (c'mon Ryan, would you rather put U.S. troops or Afghan troops at risk??).  

I'd say on the whole, it was a tossup.  Probably didn't sway any middle of the roaders and reinforced beliefs for people that have already taken sides.

269 - 269

One can dream ...

It was ..

a good debate last night.  The candidates got a little wonky, which I'm always a fan of.  I agree with the pundits. Governor Romney had the better night.  He was more engaged, energetic, and seemed to want it more.  His main MediCare talking point (which he almost forgot about) seemed to stump the President.  President Obama seemed to struggle at times looking for words (I liked Bill Maher's tweet) and his arguments were soft rather than factual.  It was interesting to watch their debate strategies knowing where they are in the polls.  The President just needs to play defense and make sure he doesn't mess up.  Governor Romney is obviously looking for something big to shake up the electoral math.  The polls over the next week should be interesting in CO, OH, VA, NC, IA, and FL will be closely watched.  I still think he has an uphill battle in OH.  The nature of the economy, the distrust of the rich, and the discomfort that I suspect many Ohioans feel with a Mormon are huge obstacles to ovecome in that state.

I have no idea what to expect next week when Congressman Ryan and Vice-President Biden face off.  Seriously, no idea.

332 - 206

What a difference a week makes. All of the swings states, including Florida are trending even more towards President Obama. And it's not about the economy ("stupid"). It's about the perception (reality in the broad, not the personal, sense?) that Governor Romney is wooden and out of touch with middle class, much less poor, America. The video released yesterday of Governor Romney meeting his donors isn't doing him any favors.

The growing gap in the state by state polls could make the debates much less interesting as President Obama is much more likely to keep to a script that just runs out the clock rather than feeling like he needs to hit a home run.

One piece of advice for Governor Romney. It's "people who", not "people that".

Electoral Politics

If I was a betting man and the election was held today, I'd bet that President Obama would win 303 electoral votes to 235 for Governor Romney.  However, 8.5 weeks is a long time.  Four years ago, the last 8 weeks changed the election.

Governor Romney obviously has to win Florida, Ohio, and Virginia and either Iowa or Colorado.  It's going to be tough for him to pull it out.

I don't want to hear any comments about the source of the map. It's from HuffPo's Pollster site. It's the best one to manipulate (i.e., change state winners) and I trust the Pollster team's aggregated data.

Exoplanets

From XKCD:

"Planets are turning out to be so common that to show all the planets in our galaxy, this chart would have to be nested in itself--with each planet replaced by a copy of the chart--at least three levels deep."

Champions of the Champions League

What a season! Two trophies, including the most important club trophy in the world. Three come from behind victories starting with Napoli in the quarterfinals. Go Blues! Great piece on Grantland here.

Dirt Biking

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Yesterday morning out for a ride. One spill, one decent jump, and no broken bones. Yet.

Ragnar Ultra

38.9 miles or just about 3 half-marathons over the course of 20 hours. The first 13.6 miles were fun. My left calf felt like it was going to fall off for the first five miles and then all of the sudden loosed up and I was fine the rest of the race. Got a little sunburned, but well worth it. I passed 33 people and was passed once (note: only 10% of the teams were ultra teams). I averaged a 7:17 pace.

My second run was 12.1 miles through river beds and up hills at night. Usually my night runs are my favorite. Nice and cool. However, the unpaved riverbed and the 7 miles of uphill were a little challenging. I only passed 16 people and was passed zero times. My average pace was 7:43.

My third run was 13.2 miles. Lots of beautiful downhill, which I needed because I was tired. I passed 21 people and was passed three times, but I honestly didn't care. I only had enough energy to run. For example, I listened to the same album 2.3 times because I couldn't spare the energy to change albums on my iPod. I averaged a 7:23 pace.



Three of my sisters (hardcore each and every one) and two friends ran it as well. At no point did we think that more than 4 of us would die of dehydration/exhaustion/sun stroke.

I'm seriously considering doing it with only three people next year (i.e., ~68 miles per person).

38

Ultra Ragnar is coming up in 2 weeks. 38 miles over 24 hours or almost 3 separate half-marathons. I think I'd rather just run the 38 in one shot. I'm definitely going to be tired and stiff when that third run comes calling.

Shoot First

Just had a tour of the FBI Academy from my soon to be Special Agent brother. Remind me to remind you to never mess with these guys.

In Our Name

From The Atlantic:

"... the Bush administration put forth a very narrow definition, arguing that for an action to be deemed torture, it must produce suffering “equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.” To place this in perspective: the administration’s threshold for when an act of torture begins was the point at which the Inquisition stipulated that it must stop."

Dirty

Saturday

Is Tough Mudder the same as other events out there like Muddy Buddy or Warrior Dash?

No. Muddy Buddy and Warrior Dash are both great events and really fun days out, but Tough Mudder is a very different proposition. Our events are three times as long, take place in hostile environments, often at altitude, and are a significant physical and mental challenge. Completing a Tough Mudder requires camaraderie and a degree of toughness that other mud-runs will not even begin to test.

Alex Clare

Thank you NPR interns.

Cheesey

Blue Du Bocage Pascal Beillavaire - I might have a new favorite cheese. This blue goat's milk cheese from France is insanely good. Goaty and creamy with a mild to medium blue kick. It was all I could do to save some for tomorrow.

Comte Grand Affinage - This cooked raw cow's milk cheese from France underwhelmed me at first. Then I took my second bite. Once my taste buds stopped exploding, I realized I had stumbled upon a gem. The buttery nuttiness is great on its own or eaten with fruit. I'm glad I took that second bite.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

"My point is that consumption of spicy food isn’t just a experience of the palette, it is deeply social. It is a signal of awesomeness, like having big antlers."

Loud and Squished

Hopefully, the judge will force AA to get rid of its awful MD-80s.

Efficiency

This is the crew that stood around doing a lot of nothing while we sat on the tarmac in Lima on our way home. For 3 hours. The plane ended up needing a new part. The closest available part of this type was in Chicago. Needless to say, we left 15 hours later. I'm happy to report that the food at the Lima airport is actually pretty good, particularly, the lomo saltado (i.e., salty beef). I didn't want to stoop down to airport ceviche, especially after having it at Pescados Capitales the night before. Mmmmm.

"Mary and Max"

I watched Mary and Max last night with the boys. Great movie on friendship, loneliness, and mental illness. I highly recommend it for adults and children.

"Working"

From xkcd:

"Five of the Most Expensive Cheeses in the Universe"

From Chow Bella.

"Twenty-Five Pieces of Basic Sartorial Knowledge So You Don’t Look Dumb"

From putthison.com, A Web Series About Dressing Like a Grown Up.

Numbers 20 and 21 are my personal favorites.

Dick Cheney

Getting shot with a 12 gauge from 30 yards away in the neck and shoulder hurts. I've been peppered before, but this mishap left a 2 inch bruise on my neck. Always wear eye protection kids!

Flying Squirrel

"Ponzi Scheme"

From Mother Jones.

"I'm Sorry"

From xkcd.

The Formation of the Milky Way

Rupert

The ongoing News Corp scandal has been fascinating. One of the most powerful men in the world has been taking a shellacking for over a month. The downfall of such men isn't something you see frequently.

Yves Smith takes a look at the difference in coverage between the U.S. and the U.K..

"Yaweh or No Way"

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Blame-itis

A great post by Megan McCardle on the debt, deficits, and the associated blame game.

Cheese - y

La Rustichella Sheep Tartufo Molitero - an aged raw sheep's milk cheese from Italy. With black truffles. Crumbly. Sheepy (i.e., mild). With delicious, delicious black truffles. Overall, an amazing cheese. It went very well with panchetta, as well as with the pickled habaneros.

Fromage

Igor Gorgonzola Dolce - Creamy, creamy gorgonzola. With prosciutto and red pepper stuffed olives, it is very, very good. Almost as good as St. Agur. Almost.

Cheese

Midnight Moon - An aged (1 year) goat cheese from Holland made using a gouda recipe. I must say that I liked the smell, but wasn't a huge fan of this cheese. It might have been that I was looking for something other than goat flavored gouda to go with my prosciutto and garlic stuffed olives, but I'm still not sure I would have liked it. The gouda overpowered the goat and the gouda wasn't that great. I like my gouda at least 3 years old (preferably 5) and crumbly, not creamy.

QE2

QE2 in in pictures at the WSJ.

I really wish was could run experiments in parallel universes where we could control the flow of time. That'd be convenient.

BTW, I'll soon be issuing bonds to myself and then printing cash to pay for them to myself, which I'll then use to buy lots of cool stuff. Any investors?

Guns, Fiddle, or Knives

Please ask me about my experience in the security line on 6/12. I'm begging you.

"Obi-Wan Is Dead"

From The Galactic Times.

Space

From xkcd.



"The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space--each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision."

Awesome

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Milkshakes

Vanilla, apple, and bacon milkshakes are amazing. Seriously.

At B Spot in Beachwood, OH.

Bucheron

It's been a while, but I finally made it back to the cheese aisle at Whole Foods.

Bucheron: A mild and tasty goat cheese from France. A slight aftertaste that is chased nicely with a Diet Coke. I've seen this cheese before, but due to its similar appearance to other goat cheeses I've had (creamy chevre-like center and a soft outside), I haven't indulged. I'm glad I did today. It made a great afternoon snack.

Sadness

No elk hunt this year. 120,000 people put in for tags and I wasn't one of the fortunate 12,000. At least I have a bonus point for next year. I might need to buy a new gun to make myself feel better (I've been eying that synthetic .223 Tikka T3).

Libya

This foolishness in Libya is killing me. No plan. No long-term thinking. Intervention when no vital U.S. interests are at stake. The disconnect between what we are doing in Libya versus what we are doing in Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria.

Here's Stratfor's take on how Gaddafi will potentially respond.

Hisashiburi

"No Correlation"

From Indexed.

Two Gorillas

From The Economist.



I hope that not addressing entitlements and the defense budget is simply politics by the President and that he is willing to work with Congress to look at both entitlements and defense. We're going to ignore 76% of the overall budget?

Egypt's Regime

Stratfor argues that what we are witnessing in Egypt is not a revolution, but a continuation of the existing military regime.

Scale

Scale from Brad Goodspeed on Vimeo.

13.2 Billion

A galaxy 13.2 billion light years away? That's a mere 400 million years after the Big Bang. And ~8 billion years before the earth was created. The speed of light and looking into the distant past always twists my mind into a Gordian Knot. Mind blowing stuff.

Pale Blue Dot

Carl Sagan's famous thoughts on this picture, which was taken as Voyager 1 passed Pluto:

"Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known."

LBJ Orders Pants

From The Atlantic

Put This On: LBJ Buys Pants from Put This On on Vimeo.

Arabic

"Uh,

your picks are on backwards."

From XKCD (847)

Speaking of which (clicking on the image will enlarge it, making reading a little easier):

Astronomy

The full version is even better.





Please enable JAVA^TM to use the Mini-AstroViewer night sky map.

Crazy Rules The World

Arizona Shootings Reaction

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Still Running and Eating Cheese

I'll be making a cheese run later today. I had an absolutely horrible stinky cow's milk cheese a couple of weeks back (Morbier = not good to this man).

Also running. You'll be happy to note that I am finally back to my race weight after putting on 20 pounds last January.

One Day

Liz surprised me with one of these beauties for Christmas.



She asked me last summer (LAST SUMMER!!!) what instrument I would choose to learn how to play. I told her the banjo because I love bluegrass and the clarinet because the the jazz clarinet is something special.

I already have my forward roll down. I'll report back in 5 years.

Bogus, Fraudulent, Debunked

The British Journal of Medicine reports on the fraud committed by Dr. Wakefield and his sensational and untrue claim that there was a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

I wonder how many children were sickened and/or died due to the fear this man's claims put into parents.

Luciano

Lyrics and translation are found here.

Kick-off

This is awesome.

Recap

This is a picture of our hunting group right before we started the field dressing (which took about 3 hours) and then hiked the 3/4 mile back to the trucks at 9pm and then after driving back to the cabin, spent another 2 hours cleaning and hanging all of the meat. We weren't smiling as much at 12:30am. The shot is just the beginning.

So onto our hunt. We arrived in Pinetop-Lakeside Thursday afternoon. Opening Day was Friday. Friday morning our group met a local friend of a friend who took us directly to a mountain in our unit. We glassed for a total of 10 minutes before spotting a herd of 8, which consisted of a single 2 point bull and 7 cows. Our hunt was an anterless hunt. We were about 450 yards away at a very steep angle, with nothing to rest our guns on, so instead of trying a standing shot we were sure to miss, we tried to close the gap. At about 350 yards, they had us made and at 300 yards, the herd took off. Our friend started sprinting down this very steep mountain and told us we were going to cut them off. I barely managed to keep up with him. At one point we looked behind us and didn't see the rest of the group and he made a comment about them "sitting around eating Cheerios". Once we were down in the cedars, I spotted some hind legs kicking up, but that was it, they were gone.

Back on top of the mountain, we spotted the herd again in a draw about a mile and a half away. So we drove the trucks down and set up on this peninsula-like ridge that overlooked the draw and had great views from three angles. We didn't see anything else that morning, but resolved to come back in the afternoon.

That afternoon we came back and as soon as we walked up on the ridge, we spotted a herd of 6 at 218 yards. Jon took three shots, but the adrenaline got to him. I couldn't get my scope on them as I was fully zoomed in. Many lessons learned that day. Later in the afternoon, I had a 120 yard shot at one that was facing me and partially hidden by a tree. I rushed my shot because it was walking behind the tree and missed. That was it for Day 1.

Day 2, we went back to the ridge and as we were walking and cleared the trees in the dark, we spooked a herd of at least 30. No shots taken. We went to our ridge and set up about 150 yards apart at three spots. Each shooter with at least 1 spotter (Jon, myself, and Mike had tags). Rich spotted a cow at 450 yards. I didn't want to take the shot at that range, but Rich convinced me to do it as we didn't have cover to sneak in closer. I took it and scared the hell out of the cow, but didn't hit her. That was it for the morning.

Day 2 afternoon, we came back to our lucky ridge and again set up about 150 yards apart. Jon was on the left, I was in the middle, and Mike was on the right. About 2.5 hours into it, Nick suggested moving to a different spot. I said no way. Good thing we stayed. A half hour later, Jon got on the radio and said a herd of 7 cows was on its way in. Rich spotted the first one as it was walking between trees at 220 yards. As it poked its body out at the next gap, I aimed and shot. Double lunged it with my Tikka T3 .30-06 loaded with Hornady SST 180 grain rounds. It actually broke a rib going in, got both lungs, and then exited (the exit wound is what you see). It jumped out and then collapsed. About a minute later, Jon nailed his with his Savage Axis .270 loaded with Federal 140 grain rounds. At that point, they were gone and Mike didn't have the opportunity to take a shot. Our estimated weights were 350 for Jon's and 550 for mine.

As my first time taking a big game animal, it's been a humbling experience. Being out in that beautiful country with family and friends, harvesting an animal, and being able to go through the cleaning and butchering process (I spent 5 hours yesterday butchering and am only half done) was an experience that will impact me for the rest of my life. An animal's life has been taken on behalf of my family and friends and I feel a little sad about that. I also feel more connected to and appreciative of the entire food chain. I hope I always feel that way.

220 Yards

Elk jerky, elk carne asada, elk green chile, elk red chile, elk steak, elk roast, elkburger, elk sausage. Mmmmmm!

Ink

I think Ink just joined Donnie Darko and Dark City as one of my favorite movies.

.ch

Wikileaks is now at a .ch domain.

Qatar?

Really???

Wish List

If anyone is interested in my Christmas Wish List, here it is:

The Zenith Chronomaster for $10k.



Or if your budget isn't quite up to the Zenith, this Baume et Mercier is pretty awesome, even if it's at the low end (i.e., $2400) and doesn't have a skeleton face.



But if you really want to go crazy, the 2010 Special Edition Panerai (with the full skeleton face) will do nicely for $160k.

The Handbook

The new LDS Church Handbook has now been published online. Very interesting event and reading for most members who never saw the previous non-public version.

Doe Urine

We're off for our fall mule deer hunt. Unit 32. My brother bought doe urine. I hope the bucks like him.

Disharmony

I'm a little late to the party, but QE2 is such a disaster in the making that I am unable to allow my embarrassing lateness prevent me from posting a link to Yves's reaction. In addition to continuing the economic carnage, the disharmony among the major monetary policy players should be fun viewing for the next couple of years.

At least its not idiots who are screwing us over. It's just very smart people who can't help but try to show off the size of their balls.

BidderTruth.com

$10 Amazon gift card promotion for qualifying Experiences at BidderTrth.com.

I've posted mine.

"I Like Politics"

From XKCD (256)

Online Communities to scale. Wow.

Multikulti

Stratfor explains Chancellor Merkel's reasons for telling the world that multiculturalism has failed.

Four Get Me Not

A punk band we saw in Tokyo. On Love Hotel Hill.