X-mas Story: Sometimes Things Work Out

Lets flash back to late August to our trip to nicaragua. This wonderful, wild dog was following us all around the island on our kayaking, biking, and hiking adventures. On our last day in ometempe, a big dog came out of nowhere and mauled him. Just about to leave a a remote island without a vet -- we werent sure he was going to make it. Our best shot was a team of doctors who were coming the following week to do volunteer work on the island..

Hello volunteer vet brigade,
I was at the hacienda merida with my girlfriend on Saturday when one of the friendly dogs who had been following us around for a couple days got attacked/ mauled in front of us by another dog while walking around. He had a big gash on his forehead - all the way to the bone-- and another one on his eye. We left that day, upset that immediate assistance was unavailable on the island, but we became somewhat comforted when Alvaro, the hotel owner, told us about your team and the work that you were going to be doing on the island starting on tuesday. I understand that you are treating many animals on the island and that in the animal heirarchy, the livestock is more important to the lives of the community, but we would still love to know if you have any info on this dog. If your team was able to treat that dog let me know how everything worked out.

Thanks 410E9th





Dear 410E9th,

Thank you for your support of our cause! Here are some of the photos of the dog you helped - We named him Dex( he sat beneath a portion of our pharmacy near a drug called dexametrazone") He hung out with us all week. I think he would have climbed into bed with us if we let him. His head wound healed nicely, and we were able to treat his cough. I also left one of the hotel staff with dewormer and flea and tick medicine for him for the rest of the year. You can keep posted on our new developmentts from our 2010 trip on our website:

oregonstate.edu/groups/IVSA/Index.htm

thanks again!!

The IVSA team.

100 hrs post-op

Slept better, much better. Still tired and full of lethargy. trouble breathing through nose leads to anxiety and lack of sleep. Staying in today. Maybe tomorrow to work. maybe.

take care all. happy holidays

54 hours in..

and not feeling great. Only 3 hours of sleep last night. Hopefully tonight is better. I forgot how difficult the Nasal splint makes it to breathe through my nose. Admittedly, it is much better than the packing. Still, the splint and congestion with bloody mucus leads to the lack of sound sleep. I am pretty beat.

Appointment tomorrow at 10 but I don't think the splint will come out til later in the week. A little depressing. I told work I wouldn't be in until Thursday at the earliest. I wasn't planning on feeling so bad.

oh well hope for better news tomorrow.

30 hrs in... and now the storm of the century

Didnt Sleep well last night. Nose is too congested for nose breathing sleep. Very cranky today. Mean to jackie. Not my finest hour. Taking oxycotin, like RUSH; not really helping.

We had a columbia MBA student come check out the third bedroom for the remainder of out time here, January through May. I am not sure they were impressed with my bloody bandaged face, or my dazed attitude. I dont know he seemed fine. We will see. two more people around Tomorrow.

Cant decide which to watch March of the Wooden Soldiers or Elf.

Another Sinus Surgery

Recovering, unfortunately had a cold going in. Not feeling very pleasant right now, going to hunker down for the winter weather. I will update more later.

The stupidest good idea ever

Louisiana Senator David Vitter (R) is speaking on the floor of the Senate right now in favor of Byron Dorgan's amendment allowing the "reimportation" of drugs from, among others, Canada. "This amendment gives Americans immediate relief from high prescription drug prices," he promised.

The case for drug reimportation, as Vitter says, proceeds from the recognition that residents of other countries get much, much lower prices on drugs than Americans do. Many of these drugs were invented by American companies and produced in American factories. But Canada gets them at a discount. Why?

Well, Canada's government bargains its prices down. So does the French government, and the German government, and the British government. The results of this strategy are not in doubt: These countries pay far less than we do for the exact same drugs. Our solution? We will go to these countries and buy these drugs!

....

In closing, Vitter urged the Senate to "take this step and do what we all say should be a top priority and actually lower health-care costs. I urge all my colleagues to come together and do this in a bipartisan way." Boiled down to its essentials, Vitter just made a case for a bipartisan embrace of a single-payer system.

Best use of the word Huge AS a sentence.

"Hey, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you. So if you can, please take your name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. Just have it as your telephone number. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye."

The year in (watching) movies.

Or a year in netflix(mostly)

New Moon was Ok; not very much different than the original. i wouldn't reccommend it. After all the buildup Tsotsi wasnt that good. The Narrows was bad, and that is taking into consideration I have a D'Onofrio thing.

Irreversible, a french flick starring Cassel and Belucci was above average but extremely disturbing. It is ranked on many lists as one of the top 10 disturbing films of all time. Precious was good but extremely disturbing; a whole differt type of disturbing. Star Trek(2009) was good. bruno was not good. Drag Me To Hell was not good; too bad for sam raimi. Pelham 123(2009) was ok; exceeded my weak expectations. Wings of Desire was ok but too long. I am not sure it needs to be on so many critics must see lists.

The Proposal was ok. The Best Years of Our Lives(1941) was boring. Grey Gardens (2009) was boring. Lost Horizon (1940?) was not good. I liked Run for your life; it is a documentary about NYC running clubs. Inglorious basards (1974) was bad.Grace is Gone is just Ok; blah, blah, melancholy melancholy.

Rabbit-proof fence was good; an interesting film on aboriginal resettlement in australia in the 1940s. duplicity was ok. Sin Nombre(El Salvador) was very good; extra points for being very good. Blood Diamond was good. Sugar (2008) was OK; a film about dominican baseball player coming trying to get in the major leagues.

Angel-A (German)was above average Religulous was Ok; expected more. Watchmen was OK; expected less Ty son(2008) was good. Paradise Now(Palestinian) was good; A good suicide bomb tale. The Tunnel(2001 German) was good but too long, way too long.

The International was OK. Repulsion(1965) was boring; I expected more. Encounters at the end of the World was very good; I guess I am getting more into herzog. Waltz with Bashir was good; animated israeli flick about 1980s war. Army of Shadows is good but too long; long subtitled dramas have to be exceptional for me to stay interested.
Shotgun Stories is just bad - and I usually get into to this type of stuff.La Haine was Ok. Vicky Cristina Barcelona was good. Coraline was very good; exceptional for fantasy flick, though, not for children.

Into the Wild was good. Taken is likeable garbage. The Happening is just garbage. I've Loved you so Long (french) is very Good. Rachel Getting Married is good; lead singer of TV on the radio is male lead. Defiance was mediocre.Zacha and Miri Make was not good. Nich and Norah was ok. Tropic Thunder was good. Frost/Nixon was good. Doubt was excellent; that meryl streep can act. Changeling was bad Frozen river was very good; highly reccommend it.

Tell No One (french) was good; extra points for foriegn. Daughter of Keltoum (algreria) was good. Miracle at St Anna was not good. Valker rie was disappointing. The Reader was ok. The Happening was crap. Nashville was interesting but not very good. Righteous Kill was as bad as everybody said Run Fatboy Run was not that funny. W was OK. Body of Lies was below average. Let the Right One( norway) was Ok but disappointing

Oldboy (Japan) was good and disturbing.
The Savages was good. Traitor was bad. Towelhead was OK. I am Trying to Break Your Heart was not Good. An Inconvenient Truth was good. He is Just Not That Into You was OK. Gran Torino was overrated and long. Lions for Lambs was boring and a waste of talent-- I usually like this type of dialogue driven script.

Its not men in general..

It is specifically ex-spies who won't sit with their back to a door. Haven't you ever seen the bourne movies?

Day 6

Why did Joe Lieberman cross the road?
I can only assume it’s because he sucks.

Day 5

What’s the difference between John McCain and Joe Lieberman?




Oh God, WHO CARES? Seriously, enough with those two. What have they been right about in the past 8 years? Iraq? The economy? Please. Anybody who takes anything those two say seriously should check themselves in to one of those emergency-stop-smoking-crack clinics with Dr. Drew.

Day 4

Why did Joe Lieberman set his hair on fire and run down the street naked, screaming “Look at me, look at me, everybody look at me”? Because he has a compulsive need for attention.

Day 3

Joe Lieberman is on a lifeboat with a young woman who was denied insurance coverage because she was raped, a middle-class guy who can’t afford his premiums, and a sickly child. He stabs them all in the back.

Day3

Joe Lieberman walks into a second bar. The second bartender says, “Get out.” Joe Lieberman says, “Why? Can’t I buy a drink?” The second bartender says, “Don’t you get it? Everybody hates you.”

Day 2.

Joe Lieberman walks into a bar with a parrot on his shoulder. The bartender turns to him and says, “Sorry, we don’t serve bitter old egomaniacs here. And fuck your stupid parrot.”

A joke a day until health insurance reform gets passed

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Joe.
Joe who?
Joe Lieberman.
Get off my doorstep, you asshole.

Troy for Guv

For along time, I called myself "agnostic" because I didn't want to be discriminated against for being an atheist. Having read several books on the subject, I decided that this was akin to being a gay man staying inside the closet. I have since identified myself as an athiest to anyone willing to ask. It has since become clear that I will probably never be able to hold public office or be seen as a role model to people in the greater community because of this decision. This saddens me, however I hope it will come to be that a person is judged based on their actions and contributions to society, and not based on whether they enter a particular building with certain adorning symbols on a weekly basis.

Pete Stark is a strange dude. Old, weird, big ears, hobbit-like in appearance. He says inappropriate things – true, but inappropriate -- with strange intonations. If Pete “I wouldn’t dignify you by peeing on your leg” Stark can be part of the bay area congressional delegation with all his weirdness, and still manage to be a Atheist I don’t see that as a hurdle for you. If Gary ”I like to shave all the hair on my body” Condit can get re-elected to his bay area congressional seat after he became the lead suspect in the murder of his female intern, I think your problem is surmountable.

I know that wasn’t the point of the snippet of dialogue above, but it is … saddening… that you would rank it as significant reason for not even trying to run. You run for office not necessarily because you are sure you are going to win but because of how you want to help people. To appropriate (and hopefully not transmogrify) your words: you run for office because of what you can accomplish, of what you contribute to society. You dont run because you think you are the right candidate.

Whether you win or not is up to the people, with all their wants, prejudices and inclinations, to decide. It is their choice and you might not win. But this resigned sadness as response to the situation is, to misquote an old friend of mine, not HARDCORE.

As for a role models, Captain Morgan, you will never be a role model. Ask me if it has anything to do with atheism. :)

Senor Chang, why do you teach spanish?

Community Episode 2. Could be this be something great?

Atrios and Phil Nugent: Verbatim

For those of us who are moderately sentient, it's been clear all along that the Republican strategy was to block health care reform at any cost. Their extra strategy is to do their best to make the bill as shitty as possible so that it's unpopular. Whether the Dems who are getting played get it and are just playing along or whether they're really stupid I do not know.

I've been at a loss for anything much to say about all this because what can you say? When you see people fervently declaring that a plan whose whole point is to extend the reach of medical care to those who can't freely pay for it will have the effect of costing more lives, or when you see a bunch of people who are protesting the very idea of government getting involved in medical care acknowledging that they're on Medicare and have no plans to divest themselves of it, you can't tell whether they're dupes or whether they're people setting an example for those they mean to dupe. When you spend some time at a health-care blog and notice that the comments section seems to feature some fellow who's there to say that he "respects" some of the people he disagrees with on health care but there have been inaccuracies on both sides--like, you know, Obama is overly confident that his program will pay for itself, and then there are people on the other side who think that it'll include a panel whose job is to kill Trig Palin--and, you know, there may be some good ideas in that mess Obama is pushing, but who in their right mind could ever support end-of-life counseling, you don't know whether to log in and gently explain what end-of-life counseling really is and all the ways that it would have been beneficial to the reputation of the Republican party if Terri Schiavo and her family had availed themselves of it, yet at the same time a part of you wonders if you should just assume that every blog on the subject has one of these characters issued to it by the GOP, to confuse everyone by acting dim as hell but, still, polite. And the first time you hear the one about the guy who insisted that Stephen Hawking wouldn't have lived if he'd been British, you have to wonder if you're the only person whose first reaction was, as in my case, to laugh out loud at something that you immediately assumed was meant as a joke? The issues at hand get lost somewhere in the swirl of trying to decide who's lying and who, like the editorial writer who made that blooper about Hawking, simply as dumb as a goddamned post.

http://philnugentexperience.blogspot.com/2009/08/sick-sick-sick.html#links

http://www.eschatonblog.com/

20 movies

10 audio with 10 video
I think I got 16 on the first pass. Figured out 3 more on the second pass. Anybody figure out the video for number 9?

What Happened on 16 July 1969, 9:32AM EDT?

Trivial Boat Fever

Name the ship/Boat(s):

1 When asked by interviewers how he became a war hero, Kennedy's grim reply was, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat.
2 Shipwrecked on Gilligan's Island

3 Yacht involved in demise of Gary Harts Run for Presidency

4 A 19th-century US Navy ship, exploded and sank in 1898, preceding the spanish-american war.

5 The main boat in the movie Jaws "We are going to need a bigger boat"

6 The site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II.

7 Popeye's Boat

8 Cristopher Columbus' three ships

9 The 20 million dollar yacht bought by Tiger Woods in 2006

10 An ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland, torpedoed by a German U-boat on May 7th 1915.

11. Hudson River Museum reopened in november 2005

12. The raft used by Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl in his 1947 expedition from South America to the Polynesian islands. It was named after the Inca sun god.

13. The series aired on PBS and was created by the Bank Street College of Education in 1984 to teach middle-schoolers about science and mathematics in an interesting and interactive way, where every lesson related to real world applications. one main character "Ben Affleck" has claimed it was the worst experience of his life.

14. Whose dead body does Jim find on the wrecked boat in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

15. Captain Nemo's Boat in 20000 Leagues Under the Sea

16. Capatin Ahab's Whaleship in Moby Dick

17. May 1st, 2003, the end of major combat operations in Iraq, was proclaimed on this ships deck by bush with the additional visual of a "mission accomplished" banner

18. The main vessel in the "Love Boat"

19. Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard a destroyer-minesweeper in the Pacific in World War II . Later a movie with Humphery bogart as Captain Queeg.

20. oil spill occurred in the Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. It is considered one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur at sea.

Welcome to America

Welcome to America

A few guesses at some of the songs? that might come up for the trivia round named "welcome to america"?. Anybody have any more guesses?


stars and stripes forever - John Phillip Souza



America - West Side Story- Leonard Bernstein


America-- Simon and Garfunkle


Courtesy of the Red White and Blue - Toby Keith


America - F*ck Yeah - Trey Parker & Matt Stone


This land is your land - Woody Guthrie


Star Spangled Banner -- Francis Scott Key


America the Beautiful -- Katharine Bates



Youre A Grand Old Flag -- George M Cohan


Born in the USA -- Bruce SpringSteen


America -- Neil Diamond



God Bless the USA -- Lee greenWood



American Idiot -- Green Day



Living in America -- James Brown


God Bless- America -- Irving berlin


Ballad of the Green Beret -- Barry Saddler

At least he is *trying*

During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

Seriously,, this press conference

is just getting better, and better...

"I don't know how this thing got blown out of proportion"

Mark Sanford June 24,2009

Senate Coup

I guess the question is if they made the deal to prevent gay marriage, or to avoid jail time for there pending crimes (like beating there wives).

Either way good for them..

Lucky Exposed

LuckyTruth.org from BuzzFeed on Vimeo.

Could Revolver be the greatest film ever?

A lot has already been written about Guy Ritchie’s new film. Soundbites like “What a complete pile of festering dog shit” and “Honestly, I’d rather sell my children to Gary Glitter than even contemplate sitting through that again.” may have led you to believe that the new release from the director of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a touch below par.

I am here to tell you that nothing could be wider of the mark. I sit here hands shaking with excitement ready to do my part in spreading the word to the world about the towering cinematic, artistic and philosophical triumph that is Revolver.

Taking the work of lesser talents such as Fincher, Singer, Scorsese and Hitchcock, Ritchie subverts the meaning (perhaps even the entire existence?) of modern cinema by toying with their motifs, plots and dialogue. Rendering them creatively impotent with his intellect, taunting them with his brilliance.

It seems almost churlish to discuss issues such as “plot” and “character” when dealing with a work that effectively re-draws the boundaries of what dramatic art can achieve, but as this is the vocabulary that Guy has used to communicate his vision it is fitting that we should examine the “physical” elements of the movie.

The story revolves around one mans quest to extract revenge against an evil crime boss who he holds responsible for the lengthy prison sentence he has just completed. Our hero, Jake Green is played by Jason Statham, in a performance which rates alongside Brando in On The Waterfront or De Niro in the Deer Hunter for sheer depth and nuance. Supporting Statham is a cast to die for, including Ray Liotta as the evil bad guy plus Andre Benjamin and Vincent Pastore as a pair of debt collectors who may be out to help Green, but who really knows?

The screenplay serves up scene after scene of quality drama and incredible dialogue while shrouding its true purposes in a veil of mystery with only the smallest of clues leading to what are probably the most amazing plot twists in the history of fiction. In fact the word “twist” does not convey the jaw-dropping impact that the revelation regarding the true identities of Benjamin and Pastores characters. The complete mindfuck was so amazing that at this point several members of the audience had to leave the cinema, presumably in order to go somewhere quiet in order to contemplate the enormous magnitude of what they had just experienced.

All the action is accompanied by a meaning-laden voice-over, provided by Statham, so accomplished in structure and delivery that you can almost shut your eyes and enjoy it without the need for visual input. If this is not included unexpurgated on the official sound track, someone will have royally fucked up.

Revolver is punctuated by fascinating near subliminal images, spiritual clues and numerical references (the lift stuck between 12 and 14, brilliant!) which are shrouded in mystery and yet pull the viewer in, creating an aura which I am sure will only start to crystalise during the 19th or 20th viewing. If this is the Kabbalah, then send back my e-meter and sign me up now, I’m sold.

In a final, bold and devastating move, there are no credits. Yes you read that right:
There.
Are.
No.
Credits.
Amazing! No credits, where did that come from? Fuck you Goddard! Up yours Truffaut! This film has no credits! I nearly fainted from the sheer balls-out exhilaration of it.

Did I understand it? No. I didn’t understand all of it, I wasn’t intended to - in the same way that God doesn’t expect man to comprehend the meaning of his existence. Revolver is a film that will be discussed for years to come by great thinkers and intellects; people able to converse on the same level as someone like Guy. When, finally, its meaning becomes apparent, like the decoding of the human genome I believe that mankind will never be the same again.

The only reasonable complaint I have against this film is that it wasn’t nearly long enough. Just two and a half hours? Maestro, you tease us and leave us wanting more! People in the cinema were constantly looking at their watches, seemingly unable to explain how time had gone by so quickly.

The only way this film could have been better is if Madonna had been in it.

Guy Ritchie, I salute you.

I have been so busy, I havent been posting...

or reading blogs. Sometimes I think it is an unhealthy addiction, a useless waste of time and every once in a while I encounter a cork of art like this and it restores my faith in the universe.

Death Before Texas!

Sax et noon, Texas?

Best use of the word teabag

The Secrets of Secession

Good Luck Patty!

Google Autopilot

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/autopilot/index.html

Another reason to love google..

Merle;s 90th

The Party of Big Ideas

and wonderful charts and graphs..

It's St. Pat's Day. Let's dance.

VIDEO

It's partly that athleticism that appealed to mom Kerry Reiling. Several years ago, her young daughter wanted to take ballet and soccer. But Reiling had been wowed by "Riverdance" excerpts on television, and a friend suggested Irish dancing.

"It's creative and athletic at the same time," said Reiling, of Minneapolis, as she drove her daughter to class Monday night at O'Shea Irish Dance. "It's not quite soccer and not quite ballet. It's sort of in the middle. Plus it's a part of our heritage."

Oscar Notes : Update BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE

This was the first year i watched the oscars and enjoyed it in a long time. I also took a nap and skipped the preshow, the intro, and most of the beginning so that may be why...

A couple of notes:

I liked Milk but I didnt feel like Sean Penn aged during the film. Something a little phony about the 10 years which elapsed. Maybe i didnt notice any growth in the character through the whole 2 hours -- Just sort of waiting for him to be shot.

Mickey was great in the wrestler -- and his speech would have been much more entertaining to watch than Sean penn. Ben Kingsley's tribute to him during the wise old elders was extremely awkward. I was cringing on the couch and wanted it to be over.

Almost as uncomfortable was the best song number combination between slumdog and that robot movie. John Legend must have been thinking what the hell am i doing up here with this guy and why do i sound like crap. Ok maybe i was thinking that.

Meryl Streep should have won just to piss everybody else off. Melissa Leo reminded me of LION -

Too bad for Michael Shannon that he looks so much like Christopher Walken. It was weird during the introduction. He really creeped me out in world trade center too.

As much as I wanted to be blown away by slumdog I wasnt. It was a lot of fun but so was goonies. I am pretty sure the academy is trying to appeal to those billion english speakers over there so they can pick up their rubles for the next couple years.

Oh and righteous kill was awful....awful.. It hurts my brain thinking about it.

212 Dance Moves & Visitors

Austin 2009

Without the Second Chart I Wouldnt have Understood

Inauguratio Review: Better than I expected

what I was expecting...

Last Run

NetFlix: More

Southland Tales Very bad
Towelhead Good, but I found it uncomfortable, not as uncomfortable as kids or storytelling but still. (His southern accent is little much)
Dark Knight Very good. Even if it is long.
Saints ans Soldiers Not good at all
Traitor I love cheadle but this was a poor unoriginal poor story. Think of what 24 would be like with good actors.
In the valley of Elah OK, nothing really good about it.
Reservation road OK, Joaquin looks wierd with a beard
I Am Legend Little long, decent horror movie

Dont Mess with the Zohan Middle of the road Sandler... not a very good movie.
StepBrothers Middle of the road Ferrel.. so, good
Baby Mama Ok, but I'd rather watch a couple new episodes of thirty rock

My Best Fiend: Klaus Kinski Very bad
Born Rich Not Good, just reality Televistion at its best
My architect: A son's Journey Good -- More compelling than I expected, still not a lot there as a movie.
Stanley Kubrick: A life in Pictures Very good -- not much of a story though

and the whole thirds season of dexter was garbage

Tag: 4th folder 4th photo

This is a picture of my relay race teammate before the start of the race. The location is the state line lookout in the palisades just north of alpine, New Jersey. It is about 7:00 AM. It was along day.