Quackery

For the immigration process I need a general medical history letter, one to two pages long, from each of my doctors. I called Dr. E about it and, without even signing a release or anything, had a perfect example of what I needed within a week. There was some confusion between me and Dr. L's office staff, and Dr. DS's staff said they would ask her and get back to me.

Today, as I was ferrying M around on her various shopping needs, we were close to Dr. L and Dr. DS's offices, so stopped in. Dr. L's office staff, once I explained what was needed, provided me with dictation that should suffice for the situation at hand and will provide the immigration doctor with the info he needs to further research my case.

Dr. DS's office staff, on the other hand, just doesn't get it and neither does the doctor. I explained what I needed clearly and calmly. The secretary said that I only had one item in my chart, from 2005, and that she could make a copy of that. I explained that I have been a patient of this doctor since 1995 and that I needed the letter to include all of that information; not just the most recent (that's a laugh-- I was in when I came back from Xmas last year, too, and that isn't in my chart) case.

She went to talk with the Doctor and returned saying that the doctor would only provide me with the info if she saw me again.

'Wait a second,' I said, 'All I need is a medical history. Whether she sees me again or not, the history remains the same, right? So why does she need to see me again to provide me with my own history from her own notes and from my old charts?'

Suddenly the story changed a bit as the secretary explained that any"old" info was filed in their archives and not on site; she couldn't provide the history requested without that information and they "couldn't get it."

'Wait a minute,' I said, 'You mean that if I went today to a new doctor, told that doctor that Dr. DS had been caring for me and he requested my history, Dr. DS couldn't provide it?'

'Well, of course she would provide it then,' said the secretary.

'That is all I'm doing now,' I said. 'I need the same history, in a letter and briefly, to provide to a medical doctor who is evaluating my immigration. I do not need to be seen now; I simply need the history she already has on me to provide to this doctor.'

The basic response was "can't do it." At which point I became, while still mostly polite, belligerent.

'Now, I know my rights and I want a copy of my medical history. This is my medical history and I own it. How can we get you to give me my own medical history?' I asked.

'Well, for a fee, you can formally request a copy of your medical history through us. But it can be expensive and we outsource it to another company to get the history.'

'If that is the only way I can get a copy of my medical history, and Dr. DS refuses to give it to me the way I requested it, then I am fine with this,' I responded.

I then filled out the necessary paperwork (which none of my other doctors requested or needed for this same exact procedure, by the way), and left with a promise that the company would be in contact with me in about a week.

Last but not least, the secretary informed me that Dr. DS had already denied my previous phone-in request for the same info a few days after I made it. When were they going to inform me of that decision? The reason we stopped in was, in part, because I hadn't heard anything back from them. Why didn't they call me with the news so I could start this other process sooner?

I could have backed down, signed up for an unnecessary appointment, and allowed Dr. DS to get my copay and see me and then request the medical history from archives. But there is absolutely no reason that I should pay her any extra money for something that is not needed-- my history will not change, her notes will not change, the charts and x-ray and blood work all will not change if she sees me again today for things that happened between 12 and 4 years ago. So why do it? I'm certain most people would just bow to this hypocrisy and get the appointment because it is easier and they just want the letter. And I'm certain my wife would have preferred to wait in the car; however, I could not and would not let these people browbeat me into doing something that gives them more money for no good reason. Call me stubborn or dogmatic, but this just irritates the hell out of me.

When describing the situation to M on the way out (she waited off to the side and didn't catch all of the comments or conversation), she summed it up nicely, 'It's a money-grab, pure and simple. If you go in, she gets a payday. There is no other reason to have you come into the office for this.'

I probably wouldn't be so angry about it, except that it was so easy to retrieve from the other doctors. The staff at those offices understood immediately and gave me just what I needed quickly and easily.

There are many "shoulda woulda's" here; maybe the secretary didn't pass on that I needed this for another doctor or for an important immigration need. Maybe Dr. DS misunderstood the secretary. Maybe absolutely none of my multiple ways of explaining this were understood by anyone. However, I keep coming back to Occam's Razor and what M said-- it is a money-grab, pure and simple.

Guess I need a new GP sooner than I thought.

Honeymoon

Can you believe a mook like me managed to marry talent like this??!!

Monday night it was good to have my friend Judith pick us up from SNA and take us home. Much better to be met by someone you know than a person wearing a Super Shuttle jacket.

--------

Tuesday we went down to work and said Hello to a few people. Everyone was excited to wish us well and hear the tales of the wedding week and day. Made plans with Robert and family to have dinner on Thursday evening. We went to the brand new CostCo (yes, that means I have one across the street from me and one a 10 minute drive away), the Sam's Club, and a few other places.

--------

Wednesday we went down to the San Juan Capistrano Mission and did the walking tour. We stood in the oldest (known/non-native) building in California. M got a candle and lit it/prayed in one of the side-chapels and was impressed by the opulent main chapel of the Mission.


The Main Altar


M at the pool in the center of the first area within SJCM

We then took PCH from there all the way up to Long Beach and went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. One of my favorite places to visit. I touched sharks (a skate and a small lemon shark-- really slick and sleek), we spent some time with no other visitors with us watching one of the younger otters frolicking in the otter cage. He was kind of cool-- he knew we were there and would mug for the camera on occasion. Unfortunately, my camera was too slow to pick up his quick actions and the shots are fairly blurry. As the crowds wandered to that exhibit, we moved on and finished our tour. We then jumped on the 710 north and 405 south right as rush-hour traffic began, so M could experience what commuting in LA is like.

We then came home and then dragged ourselves out for some grocery shopping (well, okay, she dragged me back out).

--------

Today we plan to go to South Coast and Main Place malls to do some shopping. Possibly to get some Prime Rib, too. We meet with Robert and family after work today at Cheesecake Factory (can you say Vanilla Bean and Godiva cheesecakes? I knew you could!).

Safe and Sound

We made it. We're in Irvine.

Now... to bed.

Travel Day

One of the nicest things about this trip is that I don't have to be alone traveling home. M is coming with me and jumped through hoops to get our seats together on these flights. It will be nice to have someone to travel with, watch stuff if I need to go to the bathroom or stretch my legs, or whatever.

I will also know the person I am sitting next to, which will be nice. While I've been lucky for the most part with the people I have sat next to, I have had a couple of people who just didn't want to hear it, weren't in the mood, or were having a bad day. Still remember the one guy to whom all I said was "Hello" and his response was "Shut up."

Now, I am not saying that M won't tell me to shut up, but at least she'll kiss me afterward! :-D

Everyone who has a moment should take it and pray for my mother, who left early this morning. I sincerely hope this trek is easier than her trip up. Also, for selfish reasons-- who knows how many flights she might delay with the kind of trouble that seems to follow in her wake!!! ;-)

So I Got Married... Again

You cannot believe how incredible today was. My wife was stunning; she picked an awe-inspiring dress, had her hair done beautifully, and make up that only enhanced her natural beauty rather than overcoming or overwhelming it. She was something special to see!!!!!

And so many family and friends made it and wished us well. Truly well, too-- I didn't see or hear anything that sounded in the least bit disingenuous. M's family has been incredibly kind in welcoming me to theirs.

People seemed to like the Union Club reception-- and Suzy's cake was superb. Turned out even better than I expected (and after all the oohs and aahs I've heard over the last few years about Suzy's skills in the kitchen, I had some high hopes).

Chris, who hates public speaking, gave a very heartfelt and moving toast/speech. Mark, M's older brother, did a fabulous job as the MC-- we couldn't have picked a better person for the job.
Cynthia also stepped in and had a small but vital role as a photog assistant that she handled extremely well. My sister Mindy did a great job with her reading, as well as handling the "mom issue" previously blogged about, and keeping her brother sane. Special thank yous go repeatedly to Jay-- he absolutely nailed his two readings and then stepped up when we needed someone to give a prayer before dinner. Way above and beyond the call of duty, yet handled with grace and aplomb.

Last but very much not least, Jenn and Stew were incredible through every facet of the planning and day. Simply could not have happened without their help... at all.

Thank you!

I could not have asked for a better wedding. Period.

(Now, I just want to see the pictures so I can remember what happened!! I'm probably forgetting many, many people -- but you can understand... now, back to the wedding night.)

She Made It + Funny Side Story

We picked up Mom at the airport at 8:30 pm today. So, that means she left her house early morning on Thursday and got here about 36 hours later-- a new record for those in my family. She had hell from Air Canada reps getting them to understand what she needed, that she had connections to make, and that it was for a wedding.

However, she caught her first break in Toronto-- her plane in was an hour late (of course), but the next plane was rescheduled and she managed to make it. If she hadn't, we would be getting her about midnight instead (or, frankly, she would have just gone back home... and I wouldn't have blamed her at all).

It is still astounding to me that they told her repeatedly that they could not find a seat for her on any plane from 3 pm on Thursday through 11 am on Friday (Central time) from any airline. However, what they did book her own wound up getting her here, so we can't complain too much.

But I'm sure Air Canada will be getting a very detailed, very irate letter in the mail when she gets home!

---------

Funny side story-- We drove M's father's Aztek out to pick up mom, then (obviously) back with her. Said goodnight at her hotel while my sister took over and got her inside and to their shared room. M needed to get her car from the garage so I started back home. She suddenly got a phone call from me... as I was swinging onto the on ramp onto highway 1, all electrical in the car died; I lost power steering (on a tight curve!), lights, engine, etc. I came to a very scary rolling stop just at the end of the merge area, put on the flashers, and called M to look for me as she would be moments behind.

I tried the key and it started, sputtered a bit, and then died. Obviously the power was still available because the flashers worked, but at that point I couldn't get it to restart or do anything of note.

M pulled up and put her own flashers on. I tried starting it once more, couldn't get anything at (not even clicking from the starter) and was at a loss. When things like this happen in CA, I call my AAA and have them take me to the nearest Saturn dealership and they fix it. This was a borrowed vehicle, I didn't know if AAA would work, and I couldn't fix it at 10:30 pm the day before my morning wedding. So we called her dad and he and Mark (M's oldest brother) came out. Alex called a tow truck and they told us to go home and try to relax while they deal with it.

Luckily, we are not relying on that vehicle for tomorrow, so we're okay.

All I have to do now is remember everything we went over at the rehearsal, remember to speak clearly and loudly, and smile a lot. I think that is about all I can handle at this point.

Wedding Blues

Everything is actually coming together fairly well for the wedding. We have both tuxes, we have both dresses, most everyone who is going to be here is here.

Our one serious glitch to date is my mother-- she isn't here yet. As of my writing this, she should be somewhere between Denver and Chicago/Toronto-- we're not sure.

She set out yesterday morning from Palms Springs airport. When she got to Denver, made her connection, and then sat on the runway for 2.5 hours because of a serious malfunction with the jet engine on one side. Now, she said the engine fell off-- I don't know if that was hyperbole in order to get across how badly the engine sounded/acted, but that's what she said.

When Air Canada took the people off the plane, they announced that they had a seat for everyone on the 3:55 pm flight. Some things happened and about 6 people wound up without seats. Mom got screwed by being close to the front of the line and ready to get her connection/new flight info and then someone came and took her out of that line and put her at the end of the next line-- and she and those people didn't get seats. What the hell happened between "we have seats for everyone" and the ticketing of said everyone?

They claimed that they had no flights on which they could put her to any airport in Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, or Boston. Anywhere! I have a hard time believing that this is true-- that this major airport with major airlines could not find her a seat going farther east. So, they sent her by taxi to a city 20 miles away to spend the night and then put her on an 11 am flight today. Again, the claim was that they had no other flights to Toronto prior to this one.

One woman was so distraught she was lying on the ground and weeping uncontrollably. Mom said the Air Canada personnel were just ignore her and walking around her when she was in their way.

Luckily, Mom had packed light and hadn't checked anything, so she had all her stuff. The other 5-6 people were not as fortunate.

So, now, she is scheduled to arrive at 8:30 pm tonight-- after the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner!

If and when she makes it, I would not want to be the Air Canada person with whom my mother has the conversation about how poorly they treated her (and the others). She is taking notes and will have a long, detailed list of her complaints (I'm really glossing over everything and just giving the highlights of the conversation).

We have not heard from her today; I hope everything is working out okay an she is somewhere in transit. We will likely cut the rehearsal dinner a little short so we (or at least someone) can drive out and get her from the airport and get her into her hotel.

Note: Everyone else got here with little to no trouble. I guess the traveling gods decided to pick Mom as their whipping post this time around. *sigh

Last Thing She Needs

M is pretty stressed about the wedding. We're in the home stretch, most things are done or have a plan, but she is still stressed. I'm trying to offer help and assistance when she'll let me and when she asks, but she wants to do most everything herself so that it is done exactly the way she wants it-- and I respect that. Her MoH is helping with this as much as she can, too (which is actually more than I'm allowed, as she understands the intricacies of M's wedding process better than I do).

However, things happen. On her blog, you may have read about her work laptop having issues. This morning, I go to boot up her home PC and it hangs and then a BSOD displays and it reboots itself after about 10 minutes or so. The internet connection I rely on to work from M's house is a bit glitchy as well. While I don't want to stress her out any further, I had to let her know about this as vital wedding data is stored on this machine. And I had to do it right away because, while knowing this will add more stress, waiting to tell her when she comes home from work will just add to her frustrations as she will want to work on more wedding stuff this evening.

There are glitches with every wedding. The event is too important and there are too many cogs in the machine for things not to go wrong. The trick is rolling with the punches, not letting these glitches wear you down or out, and enjoying the day when it arrives no matter what occurs. My hope is that these issues we're experiencing now are the glitches for this wedding and the day will run relatively smoothly.

____________

Addendum: Looks like the data is still there and that it may simply be an error with Windows. Was able to boot into Safe Mode with Command Prompt and navigate around a bit... drive is responding in that regard. Might simply need a reinstall of Windows (as this OS is notorious for needing one on about a 1.5-2 year cycle, whether you think you should or not). I've unplugged the machine and set it out in the kitchen; M is coming later to pick it up and take it to work to back up the hard drive and pull data as needed.

____________

Post Script: M reformatted the hard drive to no avail. I used my work laptop (the only PC we have at the moment) to review Acer online and found something that seemed like it would help. Followed the commands and seem to have a working PC again. It appears that a modem driver might have been causing the issues, as whenever she or I installed the drivers, the problems started and since I have disabled that device, everything appears to be running okay. I have installed all of the Windows updates and we have a new, clean system. Hopefully we can reinstall all of the missing data elements and programs without re-incurring the glitch.

Shower

I had asked for no parties or showers and, as a couple, we asked for no gifts (just donations to two causes near and dear to my heart). I have learned that M's mom's side of the family didn't really care, so Sunday was our shower (with gifts!). I met a nice number of that side of the family (I had met most of them previously, but intermittently and not for over a year). They are all pretty nice people and all seem excited about the upcoming wedding.

The party was nice; we were out on a lake or river at M's aunt Lorna's cottage. There was a nice amount of sandwiches and sweets available, and everyone was happy to get reacquainted with me. M's mom even seemed calm and relatively happy.

M did ask primarily for gift cards to various home stores around the town; we have plans to finish the bathroom in the basement so it is usable, as well as the rooms downstairs. But having a second bathroom would be a huge improvement to start. We did receive a bunch of those. In addition, we got some nice gifts relating to marriage; a set of purple towels, a couple of picture frames/books (one with nice pics in it- thanx Jenn!), a wedding calendar that comes with stickers to mark a bunch of the "first" of the relationship. Lastly, two of her aunts went together and bought an extremely nice, incredibly expensive Bible for us. This is the type of Bible that is generational and heirloom-worthy. It probably weighs around 10 lbs, has gold leaf edges, bound in leather, etc. Very nice gift.

(Yes, they all know I'm not Catholic and I am not converting. But just because I'm not Catholic doesn't mean I don't respect the gift and the quality and the meaning behind it. This is something we could pass on to children or grandchildren, if we have them. It was incredibly meaningful to them to get us that as a gift.)

The great thing about the party was that M was with me. She fills in some gaps I have, including my lack of enthusiasm for parties and get-togethers. So, having her there with me helped to keep me relaxed, happy, and in the moment. Jenn and M both said that I came across as such, too, so it all worked out.

Today is more wedding prep (M is getting some preliminary, womanly things done at the salon to which I was not invited, for obvious reasons, while I am home writing this), including figuring out the seating arrangements, programs, and maybe a few other things.

We think we have driving arrangements figured out for Friday and Saturday, and M has arrangements to pick up or help people with directions for most everyone to get them from the airport to where they are staying.

Everything seems to be coming together.

Weddinmg Trip To

I am a little late in telling how the trip up went. It started on Thursday when I tried to use web check-in, which normally is a breeze and I have never had issue with. When I got to the html page that allows you to change your seating assignment and select the number of checked bags you have, it errored. I called support and the first woman told me that it was because the second leg of my flight was not within the 24 hour period (which was a dumb answer, as I have never waited for that in the past and it has always worked). So, I waited an hour and a half and tried again with no luck; when I got to the seat/baggage screen and clicked Continue, it errored.

I called support back. This guy totally did not understand what I was saying-- he thought I could not get to the main page of web check-in. I explained for the fourth or fifth time that it was on the seat/baggage screen that it errored. He asked to put me on hold and hung up on me.

Called back a third time and received yet another support person. I explained the entire situation again, had her walk me through the process until -- gee!-- I got to the seat/baggage screen and it errored, and then she said that I had to check in at the airport. She couldn't figure out what was wrong.

So I have my braille-driving Super Shuttle person (for those who don't get that reference-- he couldn't keep the truck in the lane and kept driving over the bumps in between lanes and on the sides of the road) drop me at the Air Canada spot at LAX. I walked in and told the person the troubles I had last night. She took one quick look and asked, "Did you change your seating assignment?" I replied that I had, for the second leg of the flight. She said, "That is the problem. Something glitched when you did that and I need to reset it." I got a little irritated and asked, "So why couldn't the online web support figure that out and do that last night?" She didn't answer, but proceeded to type something else into the computer before printing my boarding passes.

Turns out that she added extra security screening to my boarding passes and I got to be the one pulled aside and frisked, and every single piece of luggage opened and wiped down and gone over. The man with the rubber gloves was gentle, but I would prefer he buy me dinner first, you know?

That flight went fairly smoothly. At Toronto, customs was a breeze but security once again pulled me aside for extra security screening. I had plenty of time, so it was not a big deal.

I then found my flight was at scheduled at a gate I had never used before; 126. Normally the flights to SJ from Toronto are on the downstairs area at gates 110-112. I waited patiently, speaking by phone with M for the first hour and then just reading and whatnot until close to my flight's time. However, when I checked the board again after the flight left, it claimed it was going to Montreal at 21:00 instead of SJ. I walked to the counter and asked. The response from the woman is, "Oh, yeah, I should make an announcement about the gate change." I walked down to gate 120 and was nearly there before I heard her finally give the announcement.

Lastly, my flight out was a bit delayed because first they had to resolve some mechanical issues on the plane and then they had to resolve mechanical issues on the luggage elevator onto which you have to place your larger carry-on luggage in order to fit on the CRJ plane that takes you to SJ. Once they had that fixed, they had to find a new crew to load said luggage onto the plane.

Long story made only slightly longer-- my midnight flight did not arrive until nearly 12:45 am. I had a beautiful wife waiting for me, whom I hugged and then to whom I said, "Take me home and to bed!"

All in all, not a bad trip. However, I have learned not to criticize or question the Air Canada personnel. I don't need the extra security probes!

You Might be a DnDer If...

This makes you laugh out loud! (Which it did for me.)



To whomever had this idea-- awesome!

Decisions

Having autoimmune illnesses means that my immune system is attacking my own body in various ways, as though I have had a transplant and my body is rejecting that new tissue. To combat that, I take steroids that are designed to suppress my immune responses to keep the damage to my organs to a minimum.

Up until recently, all of my medications were oral. Each medication did a minimal job of suppressing these immune responses, but the results were clear-- I went from being someone who was rarely sick to someone who got sick regularly. I started having headaches that would last weeks, and then to having migraines. I went from having few allergies to having many allergic responses.

I recently was put on a new medication for my rheumatoid arthritis (which is also an autoimmune illness). Enbrel has worked wonders on my pain and swelling from the arthritis. However, this medication suppresses my immunological responses to an even greater degree than any previous medication. I have had two blood results since being on this medication and one was well below the minimum white blood cell count considered the "average" range. The second was just inside the minimum average amount.

The upshot of this is that if I feel sick I am supposed to delay taking the medication until I am feeling better. If I don't, then I am suppressing my immune system right when I need it most (to fight the sickness).

It is a difficult decision sometimes to decide between being in pain and allowing my body to get better from the sickness or potentially getting really sick but not being in pain from my arthritis. This time out I chose to skip the medication and live with the arthritis pain until I felt better. Since I am flying tomorrow, I wanted to be as healthy as possible for the plane ride.

The last time this occurred, however, I chose to take the medication. I wasn't feeling as poorly as this time, but the arthritis pain was intense. So I took the medication and, sure enough, my illness got much worse for a couple of days as it could ravage my body with impunity.

My autoimmune issues are, in the overall hierarchy of illnesses, not severe when compared with such issues as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and some of the more virulent viruses. I can only imagine the choices that people suffering with that level of illness must make on a daily basis.

Western medicine is a wonder to behold. It aggressively attacks the problem and strives to eradicate it from the body. However, western medicine does not consider the effects this may have on the mind, soul, and rest of the body of the person affected.

IT A-Go Go

When IT gave me a new laptop and set it up for me, I was sure to mention the change in policy over emails and thought that my IT rep had understood me and set me up so that the new policy would not affect me. The policy is that, for most users of the system, all emails over 6 months old would be deleted. For the corporate vertical I happen to be in, that policy is 60 days. Originally, the policy only deleted items from the Inbox and Deleted Messages folders in Outlook. Now it includes all folders attached to the email server.

The entire time I have been using this new laptop, I thought I was safe and didn't have to worry. I was diligent about moving items out of my Inbox and saving them in the folders IT had provided. What I didn't know was that my IT rep hadn't understood what I was looking for and hadn't set me up in a way that old emails would be immune to these policies. All of these folders were still on the email server and not on my hard drive.

Yesterday I went to get an older email specific to some work I am doing and it was gone. Matter of fact, the entire folder was empty! I started looking around and many of my folders were completely empty or only had very recent emails in them. I contacted our Helpdesk and waited for IT to get back with me.

I finally managed today to escalate the issue to someone in our building and got him to come to my desk so I could show him the problem, how my Outlook was configured, and what my complaint was. He explained that how I was set up was not performing what I thought it was doing and that the corporate email policy had cleared all old emails. I asked about getting them back via a backup, and he patiently explained that only Directors and above are allowed that privilege-- any request I would make would fall on deaf ears. He then helped me to set things up so that they are the way I thought they were from the beginning, we deleted the completely useless auto-archives the application was making, we found some additional emails within an offline storage file and saved those, and I should be okay from this day forward-- except that all emails older than 60 days are gone.

It is frustrating that I went out of my way to read and, I thought, understand the corporate policy, get things set up to accommodate that policy and save things long-term, and still got screwed. The original email was extremely unclear that the folder that needed to be set up had to be in a PST (personal storage file) and on your own hard drive. I think this is because the person writing it was an IT person and not a great writer to begin with but also someone who was so close to the subject that they just assumed that everyone would know that it had to be in a PST so he skipped that vital piece of the puzzle. And, of course, when I spoke with my IT rep, I didn't know to ask about that or bring it up, so it didn't get done correctly.

Everything is correctly set up now. However, I have to contact a bunch of people to forward me work-related emails with attachments so that I can continue with some of my projects. It is frustrating and makes me look unprofessional when, what they don't know or realize is, I tried to do the right thing from the beginning. Plus, how much productivity did I lose yesterday and today trying to find out what went wrong, talking to IT, and getting them to fix me?

What He Said

I have been thinking about and trying to formulate a post concerning the recent spate of movies and which were good and why. The directions I have so far come up with allowed me to stray too far off topic and each draft I wrote was discarded.

Today I saw a hyperlink to an article and followed it. The article addressed one half of what I wanted to say very clearly and concisely, so I thought I would just share the hyperlink rather than continue to try and write it myself.

Link

While I agree with what he says, I will add that Bourne Ultimatum is one of the two best films I have seen this year (the other being The Lookout). At the next tier of high-quality movies are the other two he mentions plus 300. Each of these films delivers what the audience expects, is well presented (direction, story line, editing), and has solid or better acting.

Aside: I also think that HP: OotP is the best one of the series so far. Die Hard had two very implausible, totally outrageous scenes that took me out of the movie entirely, but otherwise it was good.

In the next tier are such films as Transformers, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man 3 , and Hot Fuzz, which were all entertaining and fun, but had issues (could be acting, directing, story, or something else). For example, I was entertained by Transformers, but the action sequences were frenetic enough that I often couldn't tell which robots were involved and I am still confused at the conclusion; why did the box thing have that effect on Megatron? But, I was thoroughly entertained and had fun watching the film.

I Know Where The Angus Is On A Cow

I guess Jack in the Box thinks we're all stupid. It isn't wrong, of course, but it is frustrating that they rely on it for its current advertisement.

Angus is, of course, a breed of cow. Sirloin is a cut of meat. So, while the company may sell sirloin burgers, I have to wonder how many of those sirloin burgers are from Angus cows? Probably a lot of them, as it is the most popular breed of cow in America.

It is just getting irritating to watch these commercials where Jack and his crew are laughing at the competition and asking where the "angus" is located on a cow (making a thinly veiled allusion that it might be the butt), while pointing out exactly where the sirloin is.

I don't understand why the competition hasn't come back with the exact opposite commercial, showing the American person that the Sirloin comes from Angus cows.

Politics

I practice what I preach. I have mentioned before on this blog my disappointment with the current administration's actions and policies, and recommended that readers contact their Senators and members of Congress if they agreed. I then contacted all of mine. While two of them provided some fairly generic responses, I received the following back from one:

Dear Mr. ######:

Thank you for your letter concerning impeachment proceedings against President Bush. I appreciate the time you took to write and welcome the opportunity to respond.

In our recent elections, the American people expressed clear disapproval with the path this country was on. They are tired of partisan politics and of an Administration that pays little heed to the wishes of the American people. They want-and deserve-a Congress that holds the Administration accountable and fulfills its Constitutional responsibility to check and balance the Executive. I share this sentiment and am determined to work hard and across party lines in the United States Senate to promote issues that are of real concern to most Americans, including the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, homeland security, global warming, and lobbying and election reform.

At this time, however, I believe that impeachment proceedings against President Bush will only divide the country even further, frustrating our hopes for a meaningful change in direction, while having little chance of success.

I have been deeply disappointed by many of this Administration's actions and have been outspoken in those instances. Nevertheless, given the challenges our country faces I believe that we need to focus on constructive and cooperative steps that would lead us in the right direction.

Again, thank you for your continued correspondence. If you have any further questions or comments, please contact my office in Washington, D.C. at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

While I disagree, especially since they made a point of impeaching Clinton and then not removing him from office, I at least respect that she read my complaint thoroughly and took time to answer the exact comments I put forth to her. And now I'm on record with her office on this issue.

Oh, and for those who haven't believed me when I say I write my representatives fairly often -- notice the line "Again, thank you for your continued correspondence." (emphasis mine) I'm sure the John file in her office has at least 5-7 letters and emails from me. As do all of my Reps, the President and Vice-President's offices, and whomever else I deem it necessary to write to.

I like to be heard on the issues. :-D

Druids

I lean toward Druid-type classes in the sword and sorcery games I play. Whether online or on paper, the class has a certain something that draws me to it. However, I don't think that most game systems get the druid "right."

When Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 was first released, the Druid class was the second least made/used class after the Bard. They both suffered from the same problem-- good at a lot of things but not really great at anything. In the case of the Druid, they had created a class that had good, but not great, offensive spells. They gave it good, but not great defensive spells. It had the ability to transform, but the rules were less than clear how it worked and it had some very serious drawbacks. On top of this, the class had some serious armor and weapon issues, low hit points, and a slow progression on most saving throws. Its one bright spot was that they got an animal companion to start. However, by about level 8, the companion was already lagging behind and becoming a liability (and a pain to roleplay).

Version 3.5 and the Player's Handbook II resolved some of these issues and helped to make it more powerful and more accepted by players. However, the inherent problem still existed-- should you be a spell caster? Should you be a shape changer? Should you focus on your companion and your own abilities?

If you focus your Feat selection and even your spell casting toward any one thing, you wind up being poor at the rest. And it takes a very strong focus with your Feat selection to "keep up" with the other classes. Even still, you will always be more of a support character. And if you design your character one way and then find you need to change that focus, you are screwed (unless the DM allows you a respecification, whether in game or out). So, in the end, even a really focused player may wind up with a class that is not as effective as he would like at the best of times. At the worst, it is a mess of paper work as you shuffle between your stacks of spells, your notes and character sheet on your animal companion, and flip through your sheets or the Monster Manual for the abilities of the animal forms you can shape shift into. And don't forget all the feats that could affect and alter each one of those abilities.

What I find interesting is that this lack of focus can be solved by making two classes (or even three). If you separate the Druid class into a "Shaman" (I put that in quotes because D&D has some classes that use 'shaman' in their titles) as a nature-based spell caster and a "Beast master" as a shape changer and beast handler. If you are separating into three, then you have the Shaman, Beast master (focusing on companion abilities and affecting animals), and "Shifter" focusing on the shape change aspects only. Each of these aspects would focus here only, and would not have access to the abilities of the other versions. So, for example, a Shaman would not have an animal companion (but, likely, would have a familiar) or the ability to change shape. I think that "beast master" is close enough-- all animal related abilities would be in one class (handling and shape changing).

Having this separation allows a person to select the class that is closest to what they want to play or that fits with the group the best. The Shaman would focus on the spell casting and would allow the player to focus on feats, skills, and abilities that would allow him to be a better caster. And, as anyone who has played a spell caster to high levels can tell you, having all those spells (and feats that can change the spells' damage, time, distance, etc.) can be intimidating and is a lot of paper work to focus on. You don't need to add the complications of having an animal companion (and all of its abilities) and shape changing skills to the mix.

The Beast master would focus on the shape changing and beast handling/animal companion skills inherent in the Druid class. For the same reasons above, the player wouldn't need to waste energy on remembering all the spells and abilities, nor worry about using any or some of his precious Feats on spell casting abilities. Instead, he could focus on feats, skills, and abilities that allow him to be the best shape changer and beast handler possible. Unless new feats were created to help this class, the shape changer would likely never be the best fighter in the group, but the abilities that open up with the variety of shapes they can take make them a great supporting character. And any time you focus a character in D&D, it is a good thing.

It is interesting to note that the PHB2 has the alternate way of doing the shape change aspect of the class which, according to the boards I read online, many people prefer. It simplifies the rules for the polymorph/alternate form aspects of the change. It makes the Druid a better fighter class, at the expense of some of the versatility inherent in the actual forms they could use.

I find the same issue in WoW. My Druid is my favorite character, but I have limited resources to empower the character and have had to focus on one ability "tree" in order to be good. I picked the shape changing tree. As long as I am teamed with a group who needs me as a rogue (cat form) or as a tank (bear form), I'm fine. But if I get in a group that needs me to cast spells, most of my spells are underpowered for my level and I go through mana like it's water. On top of this, there are really two paths for casting as well; offensive or defensive. My character is not all that good at either. This game could use the same separation between some of the abilities to allow people to focus on what they want.

Wizards of the Coast have announced Dungeons & Dragons 4.0 (May 2008), and the company says it has reimagined the classes in such a way that each is more "focused." So you, as the player, have a better understanding of what your role is with that character in the group. They have also created ways in which each class is more unique and more "powerful" in its specific role (for example, a fighter can do things with weapons that no other class can do with the same weapon). My hope is that they have either a) separated the Druid class abilities among multiple classes as suggested here or b) limited the powers so that the class has fewer spells and more focused abilities for the shape changing and beast handling abilities.

A Lion's Chance

Apparently, as lore goes, Bobby Layne, one of the Lions best quarterbacks ever, said that the Lions "won't win for 50 years!" This was said early in the 1958 NFL season after he helped get them to, and win, the Championship game the season before. He was injured and the Lions traded him because they thought he couldn't recover from the injury.

Well, he was right. Not only did he play 4 more seasons, but 1957 was the last year the Lions reached the Championship game. Note that I said "Championship," as the Super Bowl wouldn't be created until the 1966-7 season. Since that time, the Lions have actually only won one playoff game (in 1991, against the Cowboys only to follow it by an absolute trouncing by the Redskins on their way to a SB victory). Matter of fact, they are arguably the team of the decade for the 1950s, winning 3 Championships and being runner up 2 more times.

I'm curious to know if Matt Millen can trace his heritage through the Layne family genealogy? He has certainly done his part to keep the Lions from the playoffs since he became GM in 2000.

I'm also fairly sure that they are getting up there in terms of teams who haven't won a championship in x years. In the NFL, of the 6 teams tied with the longest streak to have never won a Super Bowl (41 seasons and counting), only Detroit has never even gone to one. The other 5 teams have at least been once, and two of those teams have been 4 times without a victory.

All this being said, the curse's time limit is about to expire. With the changes that the Lions have made, you wonder if they are closing the gap and going to get their shot again soon. The offense is fine, as proven last season when Kitna was one of the top QBs in passing yards, attempts, and completions, with two fine receivers. However, the defense is still a question mark and they may have to go the Indy route of winning with offense rather than good D.

Ah, the hope of a true fan always springs eternal.

Remakes

I have a hard time believing they are remaking any of the following films.

• The Birds - How can you presume to remake a Hitchcock classic and have it be better than the original? Yes, we can make "better" special effects now, but, other than that, nothing else will likely be as good.
• Conan the Barbarian - A lot of people laugh at the original, but forget that it was co-written by an Oscar winner (Oliver Stone) and directed by an Oscar-nominated director (John Milius). It actually tells a good story.
  
• Death Race 2000 (as Deathrace 3000) - The original is a cult classic, with weird performances from David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone. How can you possibly top this B- (or C- or D-) movie classic?
• Enter the Dragon - One of the seminal 70s martial arts flicks and with the Man, Bruce Lee, in the pivotal role.
  
• The Entity - An incredible ghost story, much more believable than other similar tales told around the same time (Amityville, et al). Barbara Hershey was incredible as the beleaguered mom.
  
• Escape from New York - Another cult classic. Kurt Russell is still around and still kicking ass in movies; this is his character and his alone (in most Sci-Fi fan's perspective).
• The Fly - Haven't we seen this movie enough already? I'm not saying a remake will be bad, but just unnecessary.
• Incredible Shrinking Man - directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. Enough said.
  
• Logan’s Run - Another cult classic. I wonder if they can remake this in a way that has the same innocence as the original.
  
• Revenge of the Nerds - We live in 2007; the nerds have won in reality-- why do we need another movie about their revenge?
  
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Mike Myers is no Danny Kaye. Enough said.
  
• The Stepfather - Terry O'Quinn was so eerily scary in this role, I have a hard time believing anyone could be as convincing.
• Sunset Boulevard - Remaking a Billy Wilder classic and Gloria Swanson starring role, for what? Glenn Close is rumored to take over the Norma Desmond role, which might be okay (she did have an award winning turn in the role on Broadway).
  
• Westworld - One of Yul Brynner's great roles. One of the few Michael Crichton movies to be directed by the author. I have a hard time believing that they can do better, even with updated effects.

Special note goes out to I Am Legend, the first movie to use the title of the book from which it comes. However, in the three trailers for it I have seen, it departs as radically as Omega Man and Last Man on Earth did, leaving pretty much only the one survivor and hordes of "vampires" part of the story in tact.
I hope I'm wrong, but things aren't looking good.

Edit: There are more remakes coming, like the 3:10 to Yuma flick about to be released. This is just a list of remake movies I am questioning or find odd choices.

Ties that Bind

I cannot wait to put that wedding ring on my finger. I know a lot of men supposedly have issues with commitment and fidelity, but I am anxious to be fully, completely, irrevocably married and have that "badge of honor" on my finger.

My mother recently reminded me of a conversation we had when I was pretty young. She asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and, apparently, I answered "Married with children." Now, as I've aged, the children part of that answer has become less and less important to me (not a big fan of kids, really, but I'm told it is different when the child is yours). The married part has not-- I want to be married. To "settle down."

None of the women I have dated in my past were people to whom I should or could have married. Only with one of those did the thought even cross my mind, and it was good that I thought again.

Now, however, I have found the exact right woman for me. A challenging and interesting woman who seems able to withstand my strong and quirky personality and who makes me a better person. She's damn hot, too! ;-)

I'll grant you that, technically and legally, we are already married. However, we agreed that the civil ceremony was simply to assist the immigration process (which, unfortunately, has stretched out long enough that it hasn't mattered in the end) and that we wouldn't get or wear rings after that service. Plus, my sweet really doesn't consider us "Married" (with a capital 'M') until we are married in a church with God as our witness. So, that adds to my anxious wait to get that ring.

Only 23 days to go before I can put on my badge of honor and proudly wear that ring and show the world I am married.