Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome

For those of you who read Dawn’s blahg, you may know she wrote this post about Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome, or PTLS in short. Having been through the procedure of tubal ligation herself, she has strong concerns around the conditions as a result. What has really been surprising is the amount of response this post has garnered. Over sixty comments and a first page Google hit really shows the strength of the concern regarding PTLS.

However, not many resources exist in regards to PTLS. Many in the medical community disregard PTLS as any form of a health risk , and what information exists is few and far between. In response, and seeing the strength a single post has generated, Dawn has set up this forum in order to spread the word about the health effects and variety of concerns and issues surrounding PTLS.

Please feel free to visit the forum, leave a comment, and write a post linking back to the forum so that we can spread the word and educating others about the effects involved with PTLS.

Regards

Keeping Track - The reply

How does one plan? Bloglily asked just recently. Well, typically, when I go about it, I try to think of the end point, and work a path back to where I am now. Planning for me is simply not the problem. When it comes to what I want, and when I’m focused, I’m unstoppable. The issue comes with biting off more than I can chew.

Overcommitting is a habit of my province filling ego. Maybe it has to do with overconfidence. Maybe high IQ leads to it. Maybe it’s my Hotz-esqe eleventh finger. However you look at it, in addition to a full time job, I’m working with Dawn on a home based business, trying to write some screenplays, looking for a more permanent film job, trying to get some drawing done, attemping to progress in my photography, and occasionally staying in touch with family and friends. Yet even that is pushing the envelope these days.

For those who swing by consistently, it’s more than just that. I barely have the energy to post. Now fair enough, I am tired of taking consistent stabs against the invalidity of the right wing Christian brainwashed mindset, but one would think I could come up with an odd post about something. And I can. However, getting enough coherence and energy after nonstop days of quite physically demanding work has taken it’s toll.

The planning, in my little world, are not the problem. It’s maintaining the drive through the rough periods, and remembering to follow through. In a family of golfers, you’d think that point would be driven into the mindset. But even the most creative geniuses are extremely absent minded. It’s definitely time for a planner and a whiteboard. The plans are there. It’s time to attack the plan.

That is all.

Sick and the like

Hence the shortage of posting this past week. Not that I’ve really been up to the task in the last few months anyway.

Though it’s a day late, yesterday was Rememberance Day. And since I really don’t ever have the words to remember those who laid down their lives for us to go on, I’ll just leave this:

IN FLANDERS FIELDS
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-191
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Also, this weekend was quite bittersweet as I got to see my cousin Warren, up from San Francisco this weekend. It was the first time I’ve seen family in close to three years. In ways it seems like yesterday, in ways it seems forever. It got me thinking about those I’ve lost, those I’ve lost touch with, and just those I haven’t seen. And too them I leave these words:

WANDER MY FRIENDS
Bear McCreary

(English translation)
Wander my friends, wander with me
Like the mist on the green mountain, moving eternally
Despite our weariness, we’ll follow the road
Over hills and valleys, to the end of the journey

Come on my friends and sing with me
Fill the night with joy and sport
Here’s a health to the friends who have gone from us
Like the mist of the green mountain, gone forever.

That is all.

The Joy of Work

I haven’t posted for a few days. Work has been running me down some. It also seems this new computerized system we have at work neither adds nor subtracts from the task portion of our day, but rather just gives management another device to turn the workplace into Orwellian Oceana. And this is supposed to be progress?

On the brighter side, I’ve been re-reading The Joy of Work : Dilbert’s Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers, which brings me the same mirth levels as Dogbert. And I have been inspired. Sorta. Well, start reading the book (I’ve only progressed 1/4 of the way for re-read #3). As such, I have the ironic Work Word of the Day^TM

EQUIVOCATE - v

1. To use equivocal language, especially with intent to decieve: LIE.
2. To avoid committing oneself in what one says.

Used in a sentence: Management did equivocate when building support around a supposedly more efficient system.

That is all.

The Apocalypse is upon us…

Worse than a terrorist attack. Worse than nuclear winter. Worse than the impending remake of Footloose.

The CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE IS CLOSED. I repeat. The CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE IS CLOSED.

It is true. Clark Hall Pub, at Queen’s University, has been closed indefinitely. Cheap beer, good music, and good times have left the space above the Campus Bookstore.

What the hell happened to lead to this?

That is all.

Utterly stunned

As many of you already know, Chris Benoit, his wife and son were found dead yesterday in their Atlanta area home. To save all the details, read here.

When I first heard news of this, I was utterly in denial. Benoit was one of my favourites to watch in the WWE. Something didn’t feel real about it (nor does it still feel real). But due to the nature of what was reported (just that he and family were found dead), it became quite easy to speculate conclusions as to what had happened.

As the news came in, I was utterly horrified as to what had been presented. Double murder, followed by suicide. Now granted nobody really knows what goes on in private, but I never in my wildest dreams have imagined him doing this. The news and authorities are dropping the term roid rage, though I would rather avoid speculation until better facts are presented.

I can just be thankful I had the opportunity to see Benoit perform when the WWE was here in Vancouver in the late winter.

As to the memory of Benoit, I prefer to remember him the way I did know him…

Rest in peace Chris. You will be missed, regardless of circumstance.

That is all.

Break out the Life Rings

Yup, that was the feeling we had here in the Lower Mainland early in the week. Due to the record levels of snow we received in the winter, we have, for the last month or so, been expecting record level heights for the Fraser river here. Cities in the northern interior (Terrace and Prince George) have experienced flooding now, and some are even under a water advisory as the flooding has reached sewage lagoons.

Luckily here, the majority of homes sit well above the flood plains. Those below include Richmond, Ladner, Langley, Maple Ridge, Mission, Abbotsford, and Chiliwack, to which some have already received evacuation notice. For the lot of us, however, bridge use will be limited if not completely cut off. As it stands, ‘experts’ are now predicting we here in Vancouver are at around our peak water level, but I’m not counting on it. So, if there is flooding around the bridges, and being a unionized employee, that means only one thing…

Fully paid days off of work!!!!! Woot!!!!!

But seriously, the isolation is not a healthy thing. I have horrible visions of mad riots in grocery stores for food, not having enough to eat, poor drinking water quality and the like. So, as the heads up, we are preparing (under a tight budget I know, but meh). I just can’t wait until July when the lot of this will hopefully have subsided.

As a matter of point, I do point out to the conservative readers of this tripe blahg that this is empirical evidence of one half of the greenhouse effect is actually scientifically accurate and undeniable. Melting vast quantities of frozen water (such as snow or ice) DOES in fact make natural water levels rise. Now it’s not so much that they are refuting that now, but in their worst nightmares, if there becomes solid, undeniable, scientific proof that emissions are not only toxic (another point conservative pundits overlook, by the way) but are contributing to the ‘greenhouse effect’, I’m sure, at least in Canada, that the circular thinking of the Conservatives that be will try to convince others that either higher than freezing temperatures won’t melt ice, or that extra melted ice won’t increase sea levels.

But alas, science does not always work for these individuals. Maybe if we convinced the Pope to put it in the bible… then they’d believe it. But I just don’t think he’d go for that. Meh.

That is all.

Fuck me gently with a chainsaw

Ahh, you know you’ve gotta like the expression fuck me running. Special thanks to Dawn for introducing me to that one. Though I am truly scared how aerobic that may be.

It does remind me of my favourite expression from university days. And if you can’t read the title of this post, for whatever reason, it is fuck me gently with a chainsaw. Ahh, one of the best dark comedies I have ever seen, Heathers, brings out a classic line a select few of us took to deeper levels.

Here it is somewhat in context:

That is all.

This is for real - recap of the week

I must say that getting blog posts written during the week is getting more and more tedious. First the inspiration has to strike. Unfortunately, this happens INSIDE the truck, and as such, because I don’t feel the pressing urge to write things down on paper while the latest idiotic driver cuts me off in downtown traffic, I do lose that inspiration. Combine that with limited digital resources (id est one computer for two people), and the Canucks presence in the playoffs, and little posting really gets accomplished. Until the weekend, anyhow.

And on the subject of the Canucks, I feel I must respond to their rather stunning (or should that be shocking) exit from the frozen water and donning of cleats, shorts, polos, and fourteen metal rods, consuming alcohol while chasing a little white ball. Yes, they did not fare well against the Ducks (formerly the Mighty Ducks). Mighty Ducks, wasn’t that just a crappy kid’s movie anyway? We all know the true hockey movies are Slap Shot and The Rocket.

But seriously, I could get really depressed about the whole thing. But I haven’t. During the Canuck playoffs, I applied several temporary decals to my car, as well as a Canucks flag (to the latter, half the city has). Friday (the day after the Canucks reverted to golf), I left the flag still flying. Driving home from work, I had many give me the strangest of looks, more than likely why I was still showing Canuck colours proudly. To all of those who wish to enquire about my thoughts about the previous Canuck season, I say simply this. They vastly exceeded my expectations. Yes, I am disappointed the season is over. But to say I went through the season expecting a Stanley Cup would make Bush look intelligent by comparison. I had dim hopes about the Canucks even making the playoffs, let alone finishing with a division crown and a series win against an always tough Dallas squad. We have a world class goalie in Bobby Lou, and some promise for the future. I would like to impart the following wisdom on the team however. Luongo can’t score goals for you too. You must learn to put vulcanized rubber against the mesh netting. And not from behind the goal either.

I also got to see Spider-Man 3 this weekend. This was not, however, the major accomplishment. What was is that I actually convinced (okay, I bribed, but let’s not go there) Dawn to accompany me to see the film. Last year, I missed Superman Returns (to which I still haven’t seen) as she is not a superhero (or Sci-Fi type) fan. Boy did she crap out. I love Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars (though not so much Trek… except Kirk Trek), most comic book movies, to which a major struggle presents itself to go to the cinema to see. Even last year I needed to pull the “I worked on it” card to get Dawn to see X-Men 3. But alas, we went today, and I really, seriously enjoyed it. Mind you I absolutely love the human, dramatic side to these films. Those looking for more action might be a little let down. But speaking of the action, due to our highly close proximity to the 50′ screen, Dawn suffered from nausea to the extent that upon our return home, she felt it necessary to call Ralph on the big white telephone. I still don’t definitively know how much she liked/disliked the film, however. Needless to say now, it may be revealed by her in the comments.

Thirdly, I will soon hit a major goal of mine. I will own a Mac. Mind you it’s a hand-me-down G4, but still, I can start to make a serious mark building an editing demo reel. I’m also going to revamp my jeffvickers.com site, primarily for two reasons. First, I have to find a .ca or .org or something, as jeffvickers.com is actually taken (frak me gently with a chainsaw). Also, I’m slanting more toward a blog version. Either way, changes will come soon.

And last but not least, Dawn and I celebrated three strong years together. I pity the woman. She has committed herself to me for life. I love her to death, she is the yin to my yang, she gives me hope when I lose mine, focus when things become blurry, passion when darkness creeps in. But the key is committed. I’d always thought somebody would have to be committed to even entertain that notion.

Love you babe.

That is all.

New Employee Safety Codes

Coming soon from your local WCB. As a great many business operations in the Lower Mainland are unionized, companies have been forced to take measures in order to cut costs and increase their overall profit margin alongside increasing volume. So, instead of minimizing simple internal costs, to which companies spend money without thought, sometimes costing an additional several employee salaries per annum, this is the concept corporate Vancouver is currently test-marketing in China:

Talks are currently in progress with the WCB in order to re-invent safe working practices, as both corporate executives and WCB officials claim that quality of human life just really isn’t that important anymore. WCB when questioned, however, could not explain their mammoth profit margin this quarter. Odd.

Hat tip: Todd.

That is all.