My sister says I’m starting to look like
my father. Looking at this image objectively I have to admit that it’s true. Add a few pounds and a little gray hair and I would _become_ my dad!
Good news - Skype’s recent injury is healing well. The vets optimism that it was a muscular problem and not something arthritic or nerve related seems well founded - after 3 days of kennel rest and anti-inflammatory drugs he’s already feeling much better. Last night he was even able to (slowly) crawl up in to bed with me again!
I spoke with the vet and she confirmed that this was a good sign but urged me to continue to keep him very calm and on the anti-inflammatory drugs for the remainder of the course to prevent re-injury. As much as he’s bored to tears and getting frustrated I’m just glad it’s something he will be over soon as opposed to a life time of pain and aggravation.
Poor Skype is on kennel rest (very low-key, no running, no playing, no stairs) for a week thanks to a sacral canal(?) injury on his back. It’s most likely a minor muscle injury at the junction of his spine and rear hips. He got diagnosed yesterday at the vet after a few days of pain when walking up stairs. It’s actually gotten so bad that he can’t get up on my bed or the couch because angling his rear legs up is too painful.
The good news is that if the vet is correct he will be much better in a week or so. The bad news is that this kind of injury can be a very early sign of canine arthritis - certainly something I hope is not true. I don’t need to see poor Skype endure pain like my grandmother did through much of her life.
I just got back wet and depressed from the preamble to the Medical Marijuana March in Seattle. I really believe in the mission to legalize medical marijuana (and legalize marijuana in general), but unfortunately neither case is likely to happen any time soon thanks to the general strategy and constituency of the legalization movement.
Admittedly due to the rain the parades attendance was down from what the organizers would have hoped for, but worse was the cross section of society that showed up. A good half of the attendees had the stereotypical stoner look - not what you want showing up on the evening news though. When people see the B roll footage that is likely to make the media what will they see? Certainly not sickly looking patients desperately needing marijuana to survive. Certainly not professional and trustworthy looking people - just stoners through and through. It presents the public with a rough image composed of stoned hippies drenched in patchouli eating chips rather than doctors and businessmen giving credibility and weight in the public eye.
What the marijuana legalization campaign really needs is a true spokesperson. Someone professional and educated with a sharp tongue and an even sharper suit. A spokesperson to show up on TV and talk to the American public - not show up at a hemp rally and talk to stoners. The kind of people who attend rallies marches, and events are already swayed - the movement needs to broaden its focus and broaden it’s message to the other 99% of the public.
As Abraham Lincoln once said “With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” To enact the same kind of broad social change that Lincoln once did the movement needs to sway public sentiment, not stoner sentiment.
Update: My friend Shae just pointed me at this article. It would seem Rick Steves has stepped up to the plate to hopefully be just the spokesperson I’m looking for here. Go Rick!
Or: Further experimentation with personal aggregation services
After my initial experimentations with personal aggregation basically failed I’ve decided to take another stab at it, but this time with a DIY bent. I registered metaspark.net and am working a complicated series of Wordpress plugins to attempt to create the functionality I want.
Unfortunately it’s not entirely baked yet, but keep your eye on that domain - once I get a few RSS aggregation, twitter update, and posting date issues sorted out it should be ready to go fully live, and with style no less.
Stay tuned!
I just put up a new page for a new project: 101 in 1001 - check it out. I won’t write anything else about it here as I’ve detailed everything there, but keep an eye on the blog for updates as they come.
Aside from spending my day prepping the 101 in 1001 list and designing the page for it I’ve been resting - I was sick the last couple of days and it’s really nice not to be knocked on my ass any more.
Side thought - the older I get the more sick I get when I become ill. Trend, inevitability, or side effect of a desk-job lifestyle?
Today marked my first day on the new product management job and man was it excellent. I’ve never done a transition like this where I already knew my co-workers and I have to say it makes a big difference. I hit the ground running, like the people I work with, and in general feel like I’m ready to start kicking some serious butt already.