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January 29, 2004
Dead Bolts = Good Idea
In what would have been a classic sitcom moment from the 1980s... The other day I was scouring the five floors in my building to find the community shopping cart**. Residents utilize the shopping cart when transferring many things to and from their loft apartments. On this particular day I was attempting to clear my loft of all the storage items that were lined in my hallway from the move. I had already been down to the basement on several trips, so I decided to look once again.
My building has two elevators, and two staircases – one staircase on either end of the building. While the elevators are generally quick, when looking for the shopping cart, it's best to go down one stair case, walk across whichever floor you come to, and down the opposite stair case (the cart is sometimes hidden). This time, I started from the bottom floor and went up.
The first floor is the entrance and has our mail boxes, so not much there. Up we go to the second floor. First I peek my head out into the garage, nope, nothing there. Then across the second floor to the other stair case. Up to the third floor. I travel across the floor, and peek my head out into the garage, nope, nothing there. I turn around to hit the stair case to the fourth floor.
I reach to open the door and SMACK, my nose, then body, crashes into the front of the door. I hadn't opened the door to the stair case, I had tried to open loft 316. I don't know if any one was home, because I quickly moved several feet over and went into the stair well and rushed upstairs. The door didn't open because it was dead bolted, but imagine if it wasn't. In a scene from a classic sitcom such as Three's Company or Cheers, I can only assume what would've been going on.
And there you have it. All that typing for a lame ending. But my nose hurt, wasn't that enough? I was a little embarrassed, happy now? What were you expecting? The cart to be on fire? Or in my loft the whole time? Or maybe that I would find a baby inside it? C'mon, let's get real, my life isn't some reality show. Hmmmm, maybe I'm on to something here.
** The shopping cart is from K-Mart. I only knew of one K-Mart in Kansas City, and that closed down over a year ago. It's not the best cart, coincidentally, K-Mart wasn't the best store, either. If any one would like to donate a better shopping cart, like from Hen House, or Target, that would be great. Thank you.
Posted by Seth at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2004
The hallway is empty
Where once was boxes, now lay space.
Where once were stacks, now unstacked.
Where once was storing, now are stored.
The boxes emptied, now unpacked.
Posted by Seth at 08:30 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2004
Let it snow, and thank God for Hawaii
I love snow. Love it, love it, love it. I've always wanted to live in an area where it snows more than once a year. While Kansas City isn't quite the place to fulfill that dream, it's better here than in Arkansas. Two nights ago it started to ice (hey KC, remember 2002?). Last night, that ice turned into snow, and it's been snowing off and on since. It doesn't look like it's going to be enough snow to get out there and sled around, but it's still darn pretty.
One bad thing about snow and ice in Kansas City, or rather Missouri, is MoDOT. Don't get me wrong, MoDOT does an incredible job at getting on the roads throwing salt mixtures, or getting snow off for people to drive. But that's where the problem comes in. They do a good job on melting the ice, but that melted water then seeps into cracks in the road, freezes and expands, thus breaking big chunks out of the road - aka potholes.
In directly related news, Missouri was named the 2nd worst state in America for their road conditions. Our saving grace, Hawaii. Say, how many miles of road does Hawaii have?
Posted by Seth at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2004
How far can you hit it???
Hit the penguin! Hit the penguin! Hit the penguin here!!!
Posted by Seth at 09:17 PM | Comments (0)
Do you believe in "Miracle"?
Last night three friends treated me to an advance screening of "Miracle" – the new movie starring Kurt Russell that's based on the USA team that stunned the world when they beat the USSR 4-3 and eventually won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York. The trailers for this movie were great and really drove my desire to see this film.
In comparison, this movie ranks up there with "Hoosiers", "Rudy", and even "Rocky" (with glimpses to "Rocky IV"). Time and time again you hear stories about how this game meant much more to America than the gold medal, and this movie made no issue of ignoring that idea. It begins with a montage of history flowing through the 1970s. We see footage and hear audio clips of all the historical, and cultural, events that shaped that time period. Wars, riots, pop culture, everything rapped up into a five minute nutshell, leading us up to Fort Collins, CO in 1979, where Herb Brooks (Russell) was being interviewed to be the head coach of the 1980 Olympic Hockey team.
The movie was fantastic, the audience was quiet listening to every word spoken, feeling every hit on the ice, feeling sick when Coach Brooks wouldn't let his team stop their conditioning drills. The acting wasn't over the top, but was just enough to make you feel like you knew the players, their place in life, and their desire to win it all.
"Miracle" wasn't so much a pro-US propaganda movie on the surface, but I can see tendencies in the background. The Russian team was big and very intimidating – they won games based on fear alone. Maybe that was like America at the time - scared of the big bad Russian machine. And perhaps the USA's win in Lake Placid was what woke up America once again. Who's to say.
If you want a great feel good movie to go and see, check out "Miracle" when it opens February 6. It made me want to coach again, it's something that I continue to dream about. Maybe it's something I should follow.
Posted by Seth at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2004
Testing, testing, 11223.
It's a done deal. The house located at 11223 N. Summit is no longer ours. The papers were signed this morning. Nothing went wrong and the new owners should have the key(s) now. We wish them good luck and hope Digger likes his new occupants.
Posted by Seth at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2004
To read more about our house...
Wendy wrote up something about Digger, too. Check it out.
Posted by Seth at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)
The Myth of Carpet Indentions
Today was it, the last straw, the final hoorah, the last gas, and so on, and so forth. We finally moved all of our stuff out of the house. Some things ended up in my new loft, some in Wendy's place, and some even ended up on the curb waiting for the trash men to pick it up. Tuesday at 8:30, the new owners of 11223 N Summit will be given their keys and will begin to move their things into the house.
It's sad really. While we both made the decision to sell the home, the thought originated in my head and Wendy simply agreed. Though it's sold and I'm glad to be out, I already miss it. Lots of memories already in that house, but there will be other houses and millions more memories to experience.
So all that's left in the house now are imprints of where we had our furniture. You can see where the bed was, the couch, even the television. They're pretty easy to fix, just put some ice in each indentation and the humidity that melts the ice will release the carpet - just fluff the area with a fork. If only some things were that easy to correct. So, no furniture, just carpet indentations... and soon enough those will be gone, too.
Posted by Seth at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2004
A swift kick to the galls
For those of you following my holiday-gallbladder story, here's the latest... It's been almost two weeks since surgery and I'm feeling great. I'll have four visible scars on my stomach, the worst being inside, and under, my bellybutton. I imagine it's pretty darn hard to make sure the bellybutton is lined up properly when putting the incision back together. Now all I have is just a few more weeks of "taking it easy" and I'll be back to normal. I've already been eating almost normally, so I'm getting back on track quite well.
Today I received my hospital bill for the surgery. The total was 18k and some change. Yes, eighteen thousand dollars. And to think, over a million gallbladder surgeries are performed a year - which makes that an $18,000,000,000 industry. That's nuts.
What's more nuts is that doesn't even take into effect the gallbladders that are then sold on eBay, the black market, and in your local classified ads. There has to be a gallbladder fetish out there somewhere with millionaires dying to spend a large chunk of change to get a used gallbladder...or something. Freaks.
Posted by Seth at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)
My Dad is 50!!!
Birthday to you!
Birthday to you!
Birthday to Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad,
Birthday to you!
Happy 50th Dad!
Posted by Seth at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2004
Master P? P-lease!
Last night I was treated to a Kansas City Knights game (ABA, which is nothing like NBA). It was going to be an interesting game because of two things. One, Kobe Bryant's father - Jelly Bean - was the coach for the opposing team. And two, Master P was on the other team as a player. It was interesting to see one of the more influential modern hip-hop icons not ten feet away from me. As for his playing? 1 for 5 isn't the best night for a starter.
Still, it was funny to watch the kids line up just waiting to see him face-to-face, get an autograph and have their picture taken with him. They berated him before the game, after the game, and yes, even during the game. Ah yes, such is the life.
Anyway, Master P's team lost and now the Knights are in first place. Go Knights!
Posted by Seth at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2004
E.T. Phone Hom...err...Mobile
Due to a $30+ fee that I wish to not pay, I will no longer have home phone service. The fee is to transfer the service from one place to another... it must be one GIANT button they have to push in order to make that work. The funny thing is, it's the same price to start up a new phone service altogether. So, essentially I'm canceling one and starting a new one? No, I merely wish to TRANSFER my service to another address.
"But sir, we can break the fee across four monthly bills." That's not the problem honey, I've got $30 in my pocket right now, but it ain't yours. Figure out how to push that button to make things switch for free and then we'll chat. Until then, everyone, you'll have to call my cell phone to reach me. If you don't know it, e-mail me and I'll let you know.
Posted by Seth at 04:13 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2004
Truly Outrageous
Whoa-oh-oh Jem
Je-em is truly outrageous
Truly, truly, truly outrageous
Whoa-oh-oh Jem
Je-em, the music's contagious, outrageous
Jem is my name, no one else is the same
Jem is my name!
Posted by Seth at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)
Got a lounge? I'm game!
It took a long, long, long while... but the wait has paid off (not in monetary value). Today I attended, and starred-in, my very first audio session. We're creating an eCard for one of our clients here at VML and you can hear me in both audio tracks.
Party Time - This is two grubs, yes grubs, at a party talking to each other. I do a majority of the talking - our voices were pitched up.
Lounge Singer - This is where the cream rises to the TOP! Watch out for me in Vegas next year! A STAR is born!!!
Posted by Seth at 04:47 PM | Comments (0)
B-E-E-F, it's what's for basketball.
It pains me. It pains me, badly. It's not because I'm the son of a former basketball coach. It's not because I think I could go out and do any better. But, it pains me so much to see pitiful free throw shooting in basketball. Last night I watched Syracuse methodically pick apart the Missouri defense en route to a 14 point victory. Missouri kept scrapping back into the game, but every time they got back in it, and were fouled, they couldn't connect on a free throw.
It pains me. Year after year it seems that free throw percentage is going down. I'm not picking on Missouri here, they're just the latest evidence that teams need to hit shots when the clock is stopped. It pains me.
Oh, and for those of you wondering what the heck 'B-E-E-F' stands for 'good Base', 'Eyes on target', 'Elbow in', and 'Follow through'. The acronym that will help you make your free throws.
Posted by Seth at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2004
Why must NBC be so stupid?
For the second year, NBC has decided that "Ed" should air on Friday, instead of Wednesday. They did this last year and also decided to cancel the show at the same time, stating that the season finale would also be the series finale. People, including myself, were extremely pissed off. To no surprise, the show's numbers continued to drop. [Could it be because the demographic they're going after are out on Friday nights? And, could it be that if the numbers continued to drop that they could justify dropping the show?] Even though the show 'ended', enough people wrote to NBC that they picked up the show for another season.
And now this. If they don't want to carry the show, then just drop it. Don't keep moving it to another night. It's a fun show, too bad NBC doesn't seem to like it.
Posted by Seth at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)
Back in the saddle...er, bed.
Welp, I'm back home. Doing...well, not a damn thing. Just laying around, reading e-mails, surfin' the net, watching movies, popping pain pills and sleeping. What every healthy gallbladder-less person should do. It feels like I've done over 10,000 sit ups for the first time. The surgeon made 5 incisions: one under my bellybutton (or in it, it hurts the worst), then one under my diaphram (right under the sternum), then three down the right side of my rib cage. One is very tiny and didn't require the new type of stitches (called 'splits'?).
Not sure when I'll head back to work. Very sore and sleepy an awful lot. I'll keep this updated, and stuff.
Posted by Seth at 07:28 AM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2004
Updated News...
As if it could be cut and dry! On Tuesday I had more blood tests ran in preparation for my appointment with the surgeon. After speaking with the surgeon, I inquired about the test results because I was concerned about my liver being sick, or what-not. The doctor told me that all of my liver tests were fine, great in fact. But he was still concerned because my bilirubin count was extremely high (in a common person, their count is 1, mine was 4 in Arkansas and was 8 as of Tuesday). Biliruben is a yellow pigment excreted by the liver into bile. The doctor said with a count that high, I should be as yellow as a banana, but only my eyes were a little yellow - like usual.
The doctor didn't know what was going on and suggested that we perform an ERCP along with the Gallbladder surgery. In an ERCP, a tube would be inserted into my mouth and snaked down into and past my stomach, and then would inject ink into different ducts around my liver and pancreas. Then an x-ray would be taken to see if there were any more stones blocking fluids - which could mean an inflated biliruben count. But before the doctor would schedule that, he wanted me to go meet with another doctor in the hospital.
Speaking with the doctor at the hospital was exactly what I needed. He looked over all of the information and logically came to the conclusion that I have a condition called "Gilbert's Syndrome". Which basically means that my body is constantly running at a higher biliruben count than most people. It affects 3-7% of all adults and doesn't mean anything except that my eyes and skin may turn yellow in times of fatigue and/or stress.
The doctor at the hospital understands the importance of an ERCP, but hesitates to do them unless he feels they're absolutely necessary. He informed me that 1 out of 10 could develop Pancreatis, which is sometimes fatal. Since my surgery would be Monday, he said to eat normal and have more blood tests done on Friday...he fully expects my liver counts to stay normal and my biliruben to decrease.
So, if all goes well, Monday's the day to have my Gallbladder removed. Tears of joy were shed. Happy New Year.
Posted by Seth at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)