Chewbacca update

Here's the deal. Chewie is at the vets. He's been there since yesterday morning (Tuesday). He (if you remember) was trying to recover from a hip displacement due to being dropped from the groomer's table. When they did a blood test, some liver abnormalities showed and we didn't know what was wrong. The bad news is that Chewie's hip popped back out (relatively normal) and he needed surgery. While they were going in to place a pin in his hip, they also decided to biopsy the liver and remove some bladder stones (kidney stones) that he had. So they did just that - about 150 kidney stones (wow!) and placed the pin. The surgeon said that the liver looked fine except one part that looked abnormal. He said it could be an absess or a tumor. Then as we spoke came the good news - it may have been scar tissue caused by the trauma he suffered dropping from the table to the floor. The doctor said that his liver could have been pushed into his rib cage and the strange area may have been scar tissue. A tumor usually doesn't limit itself to a small area of the liver. So Chewie is still at the vet recovering. He came through the surgery fine but since it was actually 3-4 procedures at once, they'd rather he rest at the vets. We may get him back Thursday or possibly Friday. I'm optimistic due to the conversation with the vet - that it's a trauma and not cancer. Trauma would heal on its own. We'll get more info as the test results return over the next few weeks. Anyway, that's the update...It's a quiet house (aside from the child).

Rocketboom.com is cool and funny

I read about this site in Business Week (yeah, I know...I'm a nerd) and checked it out. This is a cool video blog with short (3 minute) daily updates. It's pretty funny and meant to be. Worth checking out before it gets bigger than it already is. According to the article, the site gets about 50,000 hits per day. The magazine says that it will not be long until they get more hits daily than some of the cable television news shows. Good article. I'd link to it, but you need a subcription. If you have one, read the article by Heather Green. Click on the photo to go to the site.

Open up a can of whoop.

When our daughter was a bit younger (and keep in mind that she's 3 1/2), we used to occasionally jokingly say "Don't make me open up a can of whoop - ". And then we'd remember we were talking in front of a small toddler. So we'd stop. And so now, since kids are sponges, she likes to say "Don't make me open up a can of whoop!" And then she stops. It sounds pretty funny coming out of her mouth. And to cover ourselves in case she ever says it in public, we took it another step...

"Don't make me open up a can of...beans"
"Don't make me open up a can of...worms"

Etc...

Any good ideas for us to add to the list? And I think I need to ask her what she thinks "whoop" is!

Some older photos

I've been to lazy to download the newest photos from my camera...so I searched the archives for something interesting. Here's what I found.

Photo #1. Little cowgirl has always been cool. Sunglasses=cool.




Photo #2. "I'd like a lollipop as big as my head, please." This was taken at Disney World earlier this year. The button she is wearing says "It's my birthday today." Since she doesn't read quite yet (though she can fake it like a college football player), she was very impressed when all the characters said "Happy birthday, princess!"



And, by the way, Chewbacca is doing better. He has adapted very well to getting around on 3 legs while his 4th is bandaged and tied to his hip. We go back to the vet on Tuesday to remove the bandage and get another blood test. Hopefully, the liver issue is minor, or at least treatable. Have a great saturday!

Chewbacca is sick, but home

In case anyone is interested, Chewbacca is home. Turns out, in addition to dislocating his hip, he has some previously unknown liver issues. He's home, with his hip popped back in place (on some meds for pain), but the vet is checking into some abnormal blood tests. We're hoping it's not serious, but his liver may not be doing all it supposed to. He's not the happiest pup right now, since his hind left leg is taped/bandaged to his hind quarters. But he's eating some and hopefully, soon, we'll have more news (good)...

Here's a photo from last holiday season of Chewbacca and little Cowgirl...

Chewbacca dislocated his hip...

Our dog (age 7 - see photos on this blog) went to the groomer's. His fur was getting long and making it hard for him to play outside much. Apparently, he somehow fell/dropped from the groomer's table and got hurt. The vet has him overnight and was able to pop his hip back into place, but he's sedated and on pain meds. Everyone's pretty upset, though I'm sure he'll be fine eventually. I know he won't be happy since when he gets home (hopefully tomorrow), he'll have to keep his moving around to a minimum. I think they tape his two hind legs together so he doesn't move around as much. That'll be for about 2 weeks. I'll try to post an update tomorrow...

Cool Superman Movie site

Visitor 1000 Contest

From the nice little counter at the bottom of this page, it appears that Nicotine's Ash is close to 1000 visitors. Of course, I believe I was the first 50 or 100 visitors...but I think I will need to do something special. Something monumental...So, I must have a contest. And here it is...

Create a slogan for Nicotine's Ash. But here's the challenge - it must be no more than 5 words. The winner gets something fun mailed to them. I will decide the winner. No cash value (well, minimal) to prize. But I promise it will be something cool. I've been cleaning my office and come across some fun things. There will be one winner and possibly some honorable mentions based on quantity of entries and quality (of course). I'm tired due to working until about 10pm tonight (those docs like their nice educational dinners) so I may need to edit this later...

Contest ends when I feel we have a winner. Thanks for all your support and good luck!

An experiment in polling...

Shaun of the Dead

Another cool movie that I recently (last night) watched on the FauxVo (DVR). I had heard it was decent and the reviews are on the mark. I laughed out loud a few times and thought it was a cool Zombie movie, even if you don't like those. This was very funny and I'd like to see what the star does next...

States I have visited...Generate your own map!

create your own personalized map of the USA

Warning: Adult Content...Cartman does "The Aristrocrats"

This is from the new movie that's supposed to be the most vile joke ever told (by many big time comedians. I don't plan to see it, but thought this version was amusing...vile, evil, and amusing. Be warned - not for young or young at heart.

Cartman does "The Aristocrats"

Back from a break...

Just had a nice weekend with the child - my parents drove in from NJ and we did some fun things with the girl. My wife went to a wedding at Lake Tahoe - would have liked to go, but it was tres expensive to fly there. Those of us in Ohio for the weekend took the train from Independence to Peninsula and back on Saturday. That is a nice relaxing trip (though with the humidity, it was nice to get inside for lunch).

Here's a few extremes to think about on the hot summer days...The first shot is on a beach in Florida (where I'd like to be most times of the year) and the second shot is where I am most of the year...Little girls can be happy either place. Old men get kind of sick of shoveling show.

When will you die?

Yikes, I guess I should put off starting to exercise more...

You Will Die at Age 91

91 Congratulations! You take good care of yourself. You're poised to live a long, healthy life.

What Age Will You Die?

Barbie in a Blender

Believe it or not, I found this strange free speech-related site linked from AOL...

Blender Barbie

Movies seen recently...

Friday Night Lights - pretty good high school football movie. Even though Billy Bob Thornton is a freaky guy, he IS in some cool movies: Bad Santa is also very cool.


First Daughter - Another freaky actor (actress, actually) in Katie Holmes. But, I like her, too - regardless of the real life antics of Katie/Tom. I'll always like her from the first season or two of Dawson's Creek. And the lead male, Marc Blucas, was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (played Riley), so he gets points for that. The movie was just OK. I kept hoping that Katie's character would get some opinions (as most college kids would) and stand up to the protesters (against her father, the President). But that never really happened. But I guess the target market of this one was most likely 14 or 15. I haven't seen that in a while...


Napoleon Dynamite - I really liked this one. It's a weird, cool movie and most important - it's original. I'm so sick of knowing what's going to happen in every movie I see. This one was just weird enough that you never knew where it might go...

Newer Chewbacca photos

Here's Chewbacca (a few weeks ago). I added a photo w/little cowgirl for reference...

Another favorite photo

This is the dog (Chewbacca, or Chewie) at a very young age. His attitude is evident and has not changed (he's 7 now). A good dog who knows who to be gentle with (the child) and who he can mess with (moi)...

Which X-man are you?

This is another quiz from okcupid.com. I don't like the site for the social aspect - but there are many quizzes. Some are silly/stupid/pornagraphic and some are fun. You figure out which ones are which...

GAMBIT Holy crap! You are:

The one guy who EVERYONE wanted to see in the movies! Gambit just kicks ass. If he can't obliterate someone by hucking kinetically charged cards at them, he can beat them to death with his quarterstaff. AND he's a pimp. So what are you doing on this site, anyway? Shouldn't you be out stomping people's shit in right now?

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 20% on Mutations

Link: The Which X-Man Are You Test written by alexium on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Nicotine and Famous People

Following a trend in some of the blogs I follow, here I am with a famous person...A friend and I saw him while in San Francisco on business a few years ago. We were on some down time and going to sightsee when my friend saw Mr Murray. I called out to him and asked if we could take a photo. He said "Sure." My friend took a photo of me and Mr Murray but before I could return the favor, a woman came over and started fawning on the star trying to get him to talk to her. He quickly left since it was obvious he wasn't in a talking mood. I felt bad for awhile since my buddy didn't get a shot with Bill. I offered to photoshop a photo of him into the shot. He declined, though I'm tempted to do it still...

Photos from Saturday's Cedar Point trip

Which superhero are you?

Batman Congratulations! You scored a super 62%!

Cool, calm and powerful. Whilst your actual super abilities may not be anything too dazzling, you have earnt the respect of both friends and enemies in response to your amazing fighting skills, strategic combat and experience. Luckily you have access to the greens which can fund all your majorly cool gadgets, vehicles and weapons! Also, you're reluctant but still accepting to the idea of having a teammate/side-kick, which just makes everything a whole lotta fun, doesn't it now! On the down side, you've probably suffered some sort of trauma at a young age (that's why we don't talk to the old man near the swings, kids). Similar to the Wolverine, your past is a base for your current motivation, undertaking some kind of personal vow in search of justice. All in all though, you're one tough nut. There's not a lot of people who have the minerals to go up against you, and you're experienced enough not to get cocky and let the little things like never finding happiness get you down!

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 45% on Heropoints

Link: The Which SUPER HERO are you Test written by crayzee69 on Ok Cupid

Which Looney Tunes character are you?

Bugs Bunny! You scored 42 Aggression, 85 Sophistication, and 71 Optimism!

You have all the sophistication and charm one would expect from such a high-class hare. Very upbeat and generally laid-back, you are remarkably calm and peaceful even in the midst of the most stressful of situations. On those rare occasions that your anger is aroused, your retaliation usually results in embarrassing the aggressor and laying-bare how foolish he or she really is -- rather than doing any real harm. You likely have many friends and more than a few admirers and would make an excellent leader, if you had any interest in being one. But, being a leader would require hard work and attention to detail, both qualities you are lacking in. In fact, if you are not careful, your laid-back attitude will often lead you to drift through life completely oblivious to the changes happening around you. You also tend to have a horrible sense of direction.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 28% on Aggression You scored higher than 80% on Sophistication You scored higher than 80% on Optimism

Link: The Which Looney Tune Are You Test written by coolguy3000 on Ok Cupid

Which Sin City Character are you?

Hartigan You scored 88% Morality, 55% Killer Instinct, and 11% Insanity!

Your sacrifice cost a rampant homicidal maniac who liked to cut up little girls an ear, a hand and his balls. Too bad he pulled a nice little trick out of his ass and got some major reconstructive surgery, leaving him...errr...yellow? You love little Nancy Calahan enough to take your own life if it means saving hers. Awwww...so sweet.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 60% on Morality You scored higher than 60% on Killer Instinct You scored higher than 0% on Insanity

Link: The Sin City Character Test written by crayne on Ok Cupid

Finished Harry Potter

I finally got through the new Harry Potter book. Started late last week and read most of it of the past 36 hours. Very good, especially if you read the other 5 books. Makes me look forward to the movie. When the book came out, we saw a lot of people (including adults) dressed up as characters. That is a little beyond my understanding, but I'm glad it's getting people reading again. I read too many magazines to get through too many books a month. But I average about 1/month. If I'm on vacation, then I'll read 3-4 books on a trip. I've learned to read fast in case the child, wife, dog or anyone else needs me for anything...

Any suggestions for my next book, please leave in comments...

I am wireless

Finally got my Powerbook. Those things take a long time to arrive from China. Very cool. I'm not using it right now since I have to import all my bookmarks, but I've played with it and I like being able to leave my office to be online...More later...

Oh, and I'm up to 8.34 on the "rate my blog" score. I think the coolest tool so far on my updated blog is the flag-indication of where people are from. I'm very popular in Australia and Venezuela. Unknown country is just pouring into this site. Luckily, since this site is in English, the U.S. is in first with 80% of the visitors for August. I'm laughing (on the inside)...

Rate this blog...or don't. See if I care...

Lost

One of my favorite shows last season was "Lost". I saw the 2 hour pilot before the season started and knew it would be big. Here's a cool link that gives the secrets of the "Oceanic Air" website without having to try to figure out the puzzles there...

Lost Links

Chocolate Day (one day late)

Tara of Eclectic Spaghetti declared yesterday Chocolate Day.

Here's our contribution, one day late. Of course, it beats out today's holiday, Liver and Onions day!

Boo at the Zoo (2004)

Being the chameleon that I am, this is little cowgirl and me at "Boo at the Zoo" last year. The Beast and Cinderella. Mom was Beauty (and not happy about playing dress up in that outfit!). But cowgirl liked it. I'm thinking this year she'll want to be either Tinkerbell or Strawberry Shortcake (her latest favorite)...

Running Vehicle

Found this at another blog, but I can't remember which one. I think he/she had linked to it, too. Amusing...

Singing Cowgirl

Here's the video version since I still can't figure out the audio blog thing...I'm probably the only one amused by this. I know my wife with her headache wasn't...Luckily, this stopped within 15 minutes or so of the video...
singing.mov

Haircuts and new additions to the Blog

Little cowgirl got her first haircut over the weekend. She did extremely well. I'm laughing now, since she's gone down for bed (and she's singing at the top of her lungs in her bedroom). I should try an audioblog to record it. If I didn't want her to go to sleep, it's be hilarious...

Also, I've added some cool things to the blog. A guest map (for locations), a top link list, etc. So play around and see what looks good. Any feedback would be welcome. I'd be glad to remove anything that irritates. Just trying to have a bit of fun...