With apologies to Billy Crudup

Bed in a semi-private room $1,794.00

Pharmacy $139.25
IV Solutions $88.29
IV Therapy $262.00
Medical/Surgical Supplies $832.00
Sterile Supplies $967.00
Laboratory $32.00
Lab/Chemistry $960.00
Lab/Hematology $185.00
Lab/Pathology & Histology $83.00
CT Scan $3,991.00
OR Services $4,608.00
Anesthesia $576.00
Emergency Room $1,205.00
Drugs Require Detail Code (??) $588.14
Recovery Room $680.00

TOTAL charges $16,990.86

Seeing those magical words, Insurance billed; THIS IS NOT A BILL . . . priceless

*****

Also . . . Lost ROCKED last night!!!

Daycare trouble

Our daycare is under investigation. For the complete story, see this link.

First of all, this teacher, whoever it is, is not teaching either of our kids. Ruth is in the room below where the incident happened and Ariel is in the 4-year-old room.

(It should be noted that the parents outside of those directly involved have not been told anything specific about the occurrence, just that an investigation is underway. Tegan and I have been searching the news since we first were informed last Friday. This web story is the first concrete details that we have.)

Both Tegan and I are disturbed by this, but not instantly agitated. I guess right now we are letting the investigation take place and are waiting to see what occurs. We have never had complaints about our children's treatment at this center. We enrolled our kids there this past summer, so it has been around nine months.

We have always noted a difference in the atmosphere at this center as opposed to the one we used since Ariel was born back in 2000. Our current center is more "business-like" whereas our old one felt more "family-0riented." We had a more personal connection to the teachers at the old center, but I have always attributed this to the fact that our kids literally grew up there and we grew up as parents there as well.

So, what do we do now? I don't WANT to move our kids to another center . . . but we will if we don't feel that our kids are safe there. I don't feel that way right now, but I will be more watchful and wait for the investigation to conclude. According to our old center director-friend the daycare corporation has a very good investigative procedure and, depending on the outcome of the investigation, the teacher in question and director herself will be removed.

I certainly can't speak for other parents, but will it be enough to satisfy us? We'll see.

Indigestion, trilogies, and some other stuff I forgot

[NOTE to self: when you have a good idea for a post, drop everything--except any children you happen to be carrying--and go write it. If you get an idea in the shower, wrap a towel around yourself and run; if it is at some inopportune time, then re-evaluate your priorities!]

Yeah, this post idea was crystal clear and full-formed a few days ago. Flush with hubris, I didn't bother to do it then. Instead, here I am now, lamely trying to recreate the glory just because I got nothin' better to do right now.

Update on the convalescence: staples removed today. It hurt a bit, thanks for asking. Imagine if you were two sheets of paper, held together with 15 of those small staples that come from very small thumb-sized staplers that we all had in college on our dorm room desk. And then imagine that each of those staples is pulled from those pieces of paper. It would feel discomforting. Sure, it didn't last long but it is still gonna hurt, okay?

But, at least I am now metal free and no longer part human, part machine. I hope that I can continue to wear clothing without irritating chafing for many more years to come.

The most difficult of the convalescence to this point has been my stomach. It is getting better, I think, but I am still very cautious about what I eat. I hope that it goes away soon because I STILL haven't had a cheeseburger or a doughnut in quite some time. And sometimes, as many of you know, the best part of the day is lunchtime--partly for the company, but also for the food. And without the food, then its just company.

But, I plan to go back to work on Tuesday. I hope it goes well. I have had my time off and my recovery has gone well, considering.

*****

So, if I am going back to work then what does that mean?

The next planned event, of course. So many choices, right? March Madness is winding down and the inevitability of the winner and the great many losers is becoming painfully clear. But never fear, there are many other things to celebrate.

1) Lulu's promotion is certainly noteworthy! While I never doubted her getting the job, we'll all be sad to see her leave the light canyon. But much like the Yankees, I hope we can replace one All-Star with another. Let's hope for the best--and its not like Lulu's going anywhere, right? I mean, not too far at least.

2) The Roadhouse viewing at Shirtless's place. Rumored to be in the works. That would be fun, certainly. But what kind of food do you bring to a Swayze party? Lots of cheese, I'm thinking.

3) Upcoming movies. Always a popular choice with me. But what is upcoming? Well, there is the 800 pound gorilla that no one wants to talk about--Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

*****

I admit it, I have a weakness for trilogies. How else to explain the fact that I foisted the two bad Matrix movies on my disappointed co-workers? Was I a dupe of marketing, hype, expectation, bad philosophy? Yes, to all.

As a young lad, I like everyone else, loved the original Star Wars trilogy. I was also hopeful for the release of Episode 1 The Phantom Menace, back in 1999, was it? Sure, it wasn't as good as I hoped, and sure, my car was stolen during the night as I slept. But is that an omen? I don't know.

Even so, I saw Episode 2: Attack of the Clones. I was prepared for it to disappoint, and it did in a lot of ways. But even in those two movies, there were good moments. I am not defending George Lucas, but he can put some spectacular visuals on the screen (and I am NOT talking about Princess Amidala here).

So, was about Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith?

Well, I don't know. Every since they announced that these three movies would be made, THIS one was the one I looked forward to. The rise of Darth Vader; the fight with Kenobi; the surrender to the Dark Side. It might make for some compelling storytelling--if you had good actors, good writing, a good director--which probably are lacking, I'm afraid.

But it might LOOK cool. Is that enough?

The reason I even bring this up is because of Star Wars: Clone Wars, the short animated films that fill in the story between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. These films have shown a lot of the excitement, action, lack of crappy dialogue, and character development, and adult action (very little to no stupid kid-stuff) that made Eps. 1 & 2 so disappointing.

I saw several of them over the weekend on Cartoon Network. It sort of whetted the appetite a bit. But I am still cautious.

I hope Revenge of the Sith doesn't suck. Will I be surprised if it does? Not really. Will I take the chance and go see it?

The jury is still out on that one--but if my stomach won't let me eat Goobers, then probably not.

Recovery isn't much fun

I know that this isn't news to anyone. Recuperating from surgery is boring, tedious, painful, depressing.

The wound itself is progressing well, I guess. There is bruising but the pain gets less each day. My mobility is improving, but I still lie down each afternoon for a while--otherwise I start getting bad back-aches in the evening.

The worst thing, by far, is the very limited amount of food that I can stomach. The doctors said that I should keep it bland, focusing on clear liquids and broths for several days. It is not at all fun thinking about beef/chicken broth for lunch. I have been eating a lot of toast, because that doesn't seem to affect me badly. But that gets old. I ate an apple with my toast yesterday morning and that seemed all right. But in the hopes that my stomach was improving, I ate a small ham sandwich with a bit of cheese for lunch.

Bad idea.

All night long I had bad indigestion, lots of discomfort, and a steady fear of throwing up like I did on Monday morning.

Luckily I woke up feeling much improved today, but I wonder when my stomach will be able to handle more complex foods. It is discouraging, let me tell you.

On the plus side, FX has just finished showing my favorite collection of Buffy episodes ever, the arc leading up to the end of season 4 (the Mayor's ascension, Faith goes off the deep end, the seniors graduate, Angel leaves Sunnydale for his own show). So that has occupied some of my time.

But, there isn't much more to do other than some laundry, finish the taxes, try to catch up on blogging.

I know that all of you sitting at work would probably love to have this kind of time . . . so, I'll leave it at that.

Mulan's Favorite Sunday Story

A few Sunday's ago Ariel and I sat down and she started drawing pictures for a book that she wanted to make. She drew all of the figures, colored them, and then told me what the picture represented. I wrote down what she said, almost 100 percent word-for-word, only occasionally trying to get a more complete thought or sentence out of her for clarity's sake.

We did about half of the book that day and then stopped for a few weeks. When we got back to it, she added a few more pictures and I helped a bit more with the coloring this time (at her request). What follows is a story that Ariel created, called "Mulan's Favorite Sunday Story." It is, as those of you familiar with the Disney version might recognize, based upon the characters and situations in that animated movie.

(I will try not to write on top of what is already written on the page, only commenting when necessary.. I think the scanned pictures show the book's text fairly well.)

















(This picture represents the Emperor of China.)


(This final page is the one where Ariel wanted to write the words herself. It says: "Mulan's horse follows her everywhere and is her best friend.")