Sunday 31 May 2009

Operations, Overhaul and Observation

I'm off ALL week, just at home recuperating. Feel free to call... that's why I've kept my local 935 Niagara number. :-)

May 25 - Cutaway Coolness

I found a great interview with one of my more favourite actors, Greg Grunberg of Heroes and Alias fame. While he's no Brando, I find his likable everyman personality very fresh in today's overly media-savvy acting world, and it is evidenced in the online interview. Still, cool is as cool does, and that guy's cool.

A week today, the second season of Tank Overhaul starts on The History Channel, which I enjoyed watching last year. When I was younger, I loved cutaway-style drawings of any kind of vehicle, especially military or of course, SciFi. One of these hard-to-find posters has been hanging on my wall for over a decade now, taking pride of place. I kind of like this one too... and this site has a ton of blueprints, some of which I still own. I even drew a cutaway of the Jupiter2 from Lost in Space way back in the day, but this version is the one I wish I'd been able to draw.

One of my projects this coming vacation week is to scan in some of the drawings I've saved from my youth, preserving them digitally in case something should happen to the originals. Along with scanning in some family photos, plus other things... I may even get to some writing, if I feel up to it. Neil Gaiman shared some great insight on the writing process in this blog entry recently, similar to the Four Myths of Writing.

May 26 - Wedding Magazines?

I used to collect certain magazines years ago( no, not those kind! )but things tapered off once the internet really got going: more timely information, fewer ads and no searching for articles among dozens of look-alike back issues. The modern magazine is changing too: more and more and going online, releasing themselves in a variety of formats, most often using the ubiquitous PDF format. One such mag is Up!Magazine, whose May issue has a section on Niagara - interesting, as it portrays the area from a new perspective that you don't get as a resident. It is a large-ish download though, so wait for the link to load fully.

Things are on track for my upcoming visit to Niagara in early August for Shawna & Nigel's wedding - I officially have the time booked off work, I have a place to snooze and the tickets are in the works. Now all I have to do is wait for my final ticket costs and plan on details like a car, meals and What To Do while I am there. Though I have a feeling that this time, like last time, is going to be very, very busy!

May 27 - Squirrel Trailers

These days, anyone with some talent and time can create the most amazing things - many of them posted to YouTube. Fan trailers have proven especially popular for upcoming films, a trend started back in 1998 when someone edited together scenes from Braveheart and previous Star Wars films, popped in some lightsabers and presto: an instant 'trailer' for the upcoming Phantom Menace film. Things have come a long, long way since, as evidenced by this fantastic fan-made trailer for Green Lantern, which features Nathan Filion of Firefly fame and fan fanaticism frolicking in fine form fighting foes. Fhew!

Oh, for some few millions in cash just laying around, waiting to be spent: for those of you with such funds, then you may be thrilled to learn that the house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Cameron Frye's home, is up for sale. The famous glass-and-steel garage that housed Cameron's father's Ferrari before it was launched in reverse out the window can be yours for less than $2.5 million USD.

And I wonder if this squirrel was thinking 'Bacon!' when it went to all that trouble? Maybe he got it confused with Squirrel Bacon...

May 28 - The Night Before

While I am not a fan, I do find The Day After Tomorrow a re-watchable film - the SFX are decent, as is the acting, and the premise is plausible enough for a film, if not real life. It IS entertainment, after all. There was a recent listing on io9.com of the Top 10 Eco-Catastrophes from early SF, which I found enlightening, being the fan of apocalyptic stories that I am. Emptyworld.com is a cool place to go for All Things Apocalyptic, though it hasn't been updated in 2 years... perhaps a sign that it too, has fallen victim to the GEC - maybe you'd best get a copy of Apocalypse How, now.

In case there is a disaster, a new program from Microsoft may save your hide - it surprised me to learn about it too. Called VINE, it is based on the premised that in an emergency, your message HAS to get through. By text, email, phone call or other means, it would allow people to have vital information communicated to friends, colleagues and family members in case of disaster - when the lines are busy or down, VINE may prove its worth and save some lives. Much as Google Earth and Craigslist did for victims of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

I spent a good portion of the later hours of the evening writing down some important things, as I had been doing for the last few months. As most of you will already know, I like being prepared, so I prepped notes to various people in case the worst happened. Not that I expected such, but then I never expected to need this surgery in the first place... and I hate loose ends, in both my stories and in real life. How many of you out there reading this have life insurance? What about a will? Letters to family and friends? Any of that recently updated with changes in your life?

May 29 - Operation Day

Up and out the day early today - I had to be at the Sannich Peninsula Hospital for a 9am check-in before my operation. The hospital was a lovely low-slung affair in a country setting: green fields, trees and sunshine surrounded the place and were visible from most every room in the place. It was a bit confusing at the main entrance though; a lack of signage made getting around confusing until we found a nurse to point the way. After that, it was easy - who needs signs, anyway?

Prep for the operation was practically painless too. The nurse who put in my IV line had been doing it for 30 years, and it showed in the fact I didn't feel a thing as she plunked in the needle. I passed the time before the operation talking with a fellow by the name of Gabe in the next bed, who was in for the same gall bladder removal operation, referred to as Laparoscopic surgey or a cholecystectomy.
There is an informative 3D CGI video about the procedure here... which I found after the surgery, naturally.

I was surprisingly relaxed about the whole thing, right up to being wheeled into the surgical area. The doctors and nurses were all very cheerful and talkative as I lay on the gurney in the waiting room and outside the surgical area, and again as I was lifted onto the operating table. A few short sentences exchanged with the anesthetist and I was out - I woke up after 1pm in the recovery room with a store throat from the breathing tube plus( obviously )a sore stomach.

From there, I dozed on and off until about 3pm, when I felt clear-headed enough and strong enough to get dressed and get myself discharged. I must admit I felt better than Gabe, who was still woozy in the bed next to me but conscious enough to wish me a speedy recovery, which I returned right back at him. Apparently his wife was in hospital the same day for some complicated oral surgery, so they would both need rides home. I wobbled out to the car and endured the rough(-er)roads until we made it to the smooth highway. We were quickly home and I was settled onto the couch, where I again dozed on and off until dinner, when some soup brought me back some energy. T'bed early, with no pain to speak of, just discomfort like I'd over-exercised my stomach.

May 30 - Recovery Day One

Today went as well as I thought, considering I only managed about 4-5 hours of sleep at a 45-degree angle favouring my stomach. I always know when I have had enough sleep: I come awake straight away, not groggy as when one is awakened BY an alarm clock. With the sun coming up earlier around 6am, the rising light tends to pull me out of bed against my will. The surgery has left me with 4 bandages on my stomach covering the small incisions, and my whole belly feels... tight. Like the feeling you get when you've eaten too much, but without the accompanying bloated pressure - odd. I have to be careful not to move using my abdominal muscles, so sitting up is a measure of leverage using my arms and a cane - tricky but manageable.

Being housebound, I had a fun time just relaxing - the weather here has been perfect so far. Sunny, with a cooling breeze blowing off the lake to the north has made the deck out back the perfect place to recuperate. I've also enjoyed looking at tech alternatives to home care: this photo gallery of robotic helpers was fascinating, as all of them are currently available on today's market. Reminds me a bit of the Omnibot2000 robot from Hasbro from the 80's, which was really just a glorified remote control toy... but I really, really wanted one anyway. Perhaps an early sign of geekdom, for some.

Last Saturday I saw the new Star Trek film at a matinee, but this week there was no way I was going anywhere today. I did run across this interesting piece with some movie concept art for the new Trek film though - some really cool images there. Sadly, there are none of Uhura or Orion dancing girls.

May 31 - Recovery Day Two

I spent a good few hours on the deck again today, where it was quite sunny and warm - so much so that I had to find some shade fairly soon or overheat. A few hours went by rather peacefully reading and typing on the laptop before I had to retreat inside - the park next door struck again with some loud people arriving to fish. I didn't expect they caught anything; they yammered on and on at full volume about the most inane things imaginable, though I had to give them credit for not being vulgar. They were well-practiced at speaking every thought in their heads though... what happened to a quiet Sunday afternoon fishing?

Some Xbox360 time today was spent on Civilization: Revolutions, where I again learned the old video game mantra: Save Early, Save Often. Also, if you've played the game for a while, it may help you to browse through a strategy guide or two to see if there may be things you've missed discovering. Myself, I prefer to save looking at walkthroughs until the very last, when you've hit a wall in a game and it's either shelve it or solve it. Which doesn't often happen in shooter-style games like COD4 or the very popular Grand Theft Auto series - I have no intention of playing the latter, as neither gang violence nor urban speed racing appeal to me.

In the evening, I watched Hero Ships on The History Channel, profiling the battleship New Jersey. I must confess, I've always loved battleships, ever since I first saw them on television - I think that is why I also loved Star Blazers, which featured the Space Battleship Yamato. A recent web-only monthly series is now available online free from the StarBlazers.com website, and captures a good deal of the initial excitement I felt when I saw the original on TV as a kid.


Thanks for everyone for their well-wishes!! Sleep is a little easier now that I can lay flatter for longer periods, though I still seem to be overheating somewhat