ME-MA ADMITTED TO LAS VEGAS HOSPITAL
Me-Ma has been admitted to a Las Vegas hospital due to serious health complications resulting from flu-like symptoms over the past several days. Upon arriving, it was determined that her fluid and sodium levels were shockingly low, apparently to the extent that she had a mild heart attack.
I'll just post the contents of the email Mother sent earlier today. She and Jim Ed are driving down to Las Vegas beginning this evening.
hi, just heard from sue. here is the latest.
they did a ct scan on her stomach this morning. seems they were able to get the dye to stay down for 15 minutes. no results back yet.
her urinalysis came back okay.
dr. seems to think her infection is in her lungs, but not certain, as no tests have been taken to confirm. meanwhile he is treating her with an antibiotic that takes care of pretty much all infections.
her sodium level is up to a whopping 115, from a 102. remember that the lowest level is a 139. this new count is after two days,(of a faster drip, not enough to cause any brain problems). they have since slowed it down today. before they can run an angiogram on her heart, the count has to be up to 140 at the lowest. has a ways to go in my opinion, unless this last day really adds up.
she is talking, but rests most of the time. i did get to say a quick hi to her this a.m. on the cell phone.(and i mean a quick HI)
seems cell phones are allowed in her room.Sue monitors that pretty good.
according to the doctor that sue talked to this a.m. the heart attack was brought on from dehydration, and not the low sodium count. guess those two dont go hand in hand. now, on the other hand, the cardiologist that told sue the heart attack was brought on by the low sodium count. sue will be seeing him later on today, and will tell him what the other dr said, and get to the bottom of the difference of opinion. she is also going to contact mom's cardiologist and find out why he is not making an appearance. seems he just wants to take her money in his office, and not make hospital calls. will keep you posted on that attempt.
they are waiting till they get mom's blood count stable before attempting to put in the central artery "tap". dont want her to bleed profusely. guess they have to numb the area before inserting the needle.
sue has an appointment tomorrow with kilpatrick. she will be asking him to have mom's file pulled so she can go over all of the misdiagnosises with him, and ask why fremont hires incompetent drs.
will keep you posted as soon as i hear from sue. hope this is clear enough for all to understand.
love, dianne
Our prayers for a speedy recovery are with you, Me-ma.
UPDATE: GRAMMA REID NOT YET RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
My information the other day was not accurate; doctors in Farmington had not yet released Gramma as her heart rate did not stabilize as soon as I originally thought. She is expected to be released today. I have heard that Jim, Betty and Kathleen will be making visits to Farmington in the next few weeks.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Saturday, January 29, 2005
GRAMMA REID HAS EMERGENCY TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL
An accelerated heart rate was alarming enough to Gramma's nurse that she was escorted to a clinic (incorrectly it later turned out) and then to the local emergency room. She stayed there for a couple of nights to be monitored, but now all seems to be doing better.
We're glad to hear that things are going better and keep your health in our prayers.
NOISY NEIGHBORS
Well, it's odd, but my boss Jerry was right about becoming a father. One suddently gets an incredible protective instinct that causes one to be more bold than expected.
Take just ten minutes ago. It's 12:20am Saturday morning (Letterman's on and I'm also surfing websites about the TV show LOST - two new episodes we've missed due to baby massage classes). The neighbor across the street, the one that bought the two-story that Glenn lived in, has thrown a party and his friends are outside drinking and smoking and being entirely too loud.
Now, before I would likely have sat inside and groused about the noise knowing that they'd eventually go home or be quiet. Not this time. I put my shoes on, walked over into his yard and confronted a group of about 8 of them about their noise being inappropriate for the neighborhood. I didn't want Gabriel and Jill to wake up.. Gabriel for obvious reasons, but Jill because she suffered a headache most of the day and she really needs her rest.
Anyway, goofy little experience. Funny.. the information St. Vincent's hospital sent home with us didn't say anything about testosterone surges. But then again, there's a lot that it didn't say anything about.
BABY MASSAGE - YEAH RIGHT!
For the past three weeks, we've taken Gabriel to a baby massage class Wednesday nights. The class is sponsored by Providence Health Systems and is taught by an occupational and physical therapist named Ruthanne.
We and eleven other babies and family sit in a circle and learn different massage techniques for different parts of our littel bundles of joy. Some help with relaxation, all help with circulation, some help with digestion and cholic. Gabriel truly enjoys the class, but only because he's the class clown. He's the oldest by two days, though all the rest but little Ian are fewer than 12 weeks old. They lay there like rag dolls and submit to their parents awkward massage techniques.
Well, not Gabriel of course. He's too busy squirming, wiggling, turning, trying to sit up, fussing, cooing, yelling, laughing, staring, grunting and smiling to be bothered with lying quietly and being massaged.. oh, no, indeed. The rest of the parents, and the instructor, chuckle at him and his boundless energy. He's just very stimulated during the process, even though he's supposed to relax.
Well, the class ends at 8pm and all the stimulation keeps him up until well after 10pm those nights. But this past week, he slept all night Wednesday night and we're hopeful the class helped.
One interesting aspect of the class is getting to meet Melanie & Karl and their son Ian. He's just four days younger than Gabriel, born August 10th. The truly fascinating thing is that she's from Indonesia (Jakarta - family were unaffected by the big earthquake) and he is from the Czech Republic.. and teaches tai chi. They met here and romance blossomed. ONLY in America. They're a very nice family.
LOTSA GOOD FAMILY DINNERS
There have been some very good meals had lately. Mom started it off a couple of weeks ago with Moroccan Halibut at her place. We were joined by John, Judy and Charlotte. Then, when Dad got into town, we went to Jin Wah for more great Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. Last night, Mom and Dad came over for Alaska Coho salmon filets on the grill. And tonight, we went to John and Judy's for pork chops and rice.
I'm never going to lose weight.
ISLAND AT WAR
I know most folks out there aren't quite the PBS fiends that Jill and I are, but I encourage everyone that remembers to catch "Island at War" on Masterpiece Theater Sunday nights to do so. It's a five-part fictionalized account of the Nazi occupation of Britain's Channel Islands, the only British territory to fall under German control during WWII. As can be seen in the map below, the Channel Islands are actually far to the southwest of the English Channel and look more like they should be (and were) French territory. Jersey and Guernsey are major islands there.
The movie is not gratuitoiusly violent, but it certainly doesn't pull punches about attacks on civilians by the Nazi Luftwaffe prior to invasion. The locals are also particularly upset about the fact that Britain left them high and dry before the Germans overran the place.
Anyway, the first episode was exceptionally good.. check it out.
BIRTHDAY & WEDDING CONFLICT?
It's rumored but unconfirmed that Chrissie Happe has set her wedding date for August 6, 2005. Congratulations, Chrissie. But that makes it likely that Tom and Kate will not be able to be up here for Gabriel's first birthday party. I would think, unless Ron hands her a check upon condition of eloping, that Tom and Kate would figure prominently in the ceremony.
So, we'll see how things evolve. How much does teleconferencing cost?
An accelerated heart rate was alarming enough to Gramma's nurse that she was escorted to a clinic (incorrectly it later turned out) and then to the local emergency room. She stayed there for a couple of nights to be monitored, but now all seems to be doing better.
We're glad to hear that things are going better and keep your health in our prayers.
NOISY NEIGHBORS
Well, it's odd, but my boss Jerry was right about becoming a father. One suddently gets an incredible protective instinct that causes one to be more bold than expected.
Take just ten minutes ago. It's 12:20am Saturday morning (Letterman's on and I'm also surfing websites about the TV show LOST - two new episodes we've missed due to baby massage classes). The neighbor across the street, the one that bought the two-story that Glenn lived in, has thrown a party and his friends are outside drinking and smoking and being entirely too loud.
Now, before I would likely have sat inside and groused about the noise knowing that they'd eventually go home or be quiet. Not this time. I put my shoes on, walked over into his yard and confronted a group of about 8 of them about their noise being inappropriate for the neighborhood. I didn't want Gabriel and Jill to wake up.. Gabriel for obvious reasons, but Jill because she suffered a headache most of the day and she really needs her rest.
Anyway, goofy little experience. Funny.. the information St. Vincent's hospital sent home with us didn't say anything about testosterone surges. But then again, there's a lot that it didn't say anything about.
BABY MASSAGE - YEAH RIGHT!
For the past three weeks, we've taken Gabriel to a baby massage class Wednesday nights. The class is sponsored by Providence Health Systems and is taught by an occupational and physical therapist named Ruthanne.
We and eleven other babies and family sit in a circle and learn different massage techniques for different parts of our littel bundles of joy. Some help with relaxation, all help with circulation, some help with digestion and cholic. Gabriel truly enjoys the class, but only because he's the class clown. He's the oldest by two days, though all the rest but little Ian are fewer than 12 weeks old. They lay there like rag dolls and submit to their parents awkward massage techniques.
Well, not Gabriel of course. He's too busy squirming, wiggling, turning, trying to sit up, fussing, cooing, yelling, laughing, staring, grunting and smiling to be bothered with lying quietly and being massaged.. oh, no, indeed. The rest of the parents, and the instructor, chuckle at him and his boundless energy. He's just very stimulated during the process, even though he's supposed to relax.
Well, the class ends at 8pm and all the stimulation keeps him up until well after 10pm those nights. But this past week, he slept all night Wednesday night and we're hopeful the class helped.
One interesting aspect of the class is getting to meet Melanie & Karl and their son Ian. He's just four days younger than Gabriel, born August 10th. The truly fascinating thing is that she's from Indonesia (Jakarta - family were unaffected by the big earthquake) and he is from the Czech Republic.. and teaches tai chi. They met here and romance blossomed. ONLY in America. They're a very nice family.
LOTSA GOOD FAMILY DINNERS
There have been some very good meals had lately. Mom started it off a couple of weeks ago with Moroccan Halibut at her place. We were joined by John, Judy and Charlotte. Then, when Dad got into town, we went to Jin Wah for more great Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. Last night, Mom and Dad came over for Alaska Coho salmon filets on the grill. And tonight, we went to John and Judy's for pork chops and rice.
I'm never going to lose weight.
ISLAND AT WAR
I know most folks out there aren't quite the PBS fiends that Jill and I are, but I encourage everyone that remembers to catch "Island at War" on Masterpiece Theater Sunday nights to do so. It's a five-part fictionalized account of the Nazi occupation of Britain's Channel Islands, the only British territory to fall under German control during WWII. As can be seen in the map below, the Channel Islands are actually far to the southwest of the English Channel and look more like they should be (and were) French territory. Jersey and Guernsey are major islands there.
The movie is not gratuitoiusly violent, but it certainly doesn't pull punches about attacks on civilians by the Nazi Luftwaffe prior to invasion. The locals are also particularly upset about the fact that Britain left them high and dry before the Germans overran the place.
Anyway, the first episode was exceptionally good.. check it out.
BIRTHDAY & WEDDING CONFLICT?
It's rumored but unconfirmed that Chrissie Happe has set her wedding date for August 6, 2005. Congratulations, Chrissie. But that makes it likely that Tom and Kate will not be able to be up here for Gabriel's first birthday party. I would think, unless Ron hands her a check upon condition of eloping, that Tom and Kate would figure prominently in the ceremony.
So, we'll see how things evolve. How much does teleconferencing cost?
Monday, January 24, 2005
HOW DEAD IS HE?
I personally think Carson would have liked that joke. I like this cartoon, as well.
(By Daryl Cagle of Slate.com)
I personally think Carson would have liked that joke. I like this cartoon, as well.
(By Daryl Cagle of Slate.com)
Saturday, January 15, 2005
UPDATE - COMMENTS WORK, THOUGH NOT AS EXPECTED
If you care to make a comment, you need to go to the end of the post in question to the data stamp and "Posted by Bill." Click the pound sign - # - and it will take you to a page with that post alone. You can then add a comment on that page, which will display later.
Good luck!
If you care to make a comment, you need to go to the end of the post in question to the data stamp and "Posted by Bill." Click the pound sign - # - and it will take you to a page with that post alone. You can then add a comment on that page, which will display later.
Good luck!
SUSPICIOUS HACK JOB
It seems that yesterday, someone - Jeff K? (warning: site frequently NSFW) - hacked my blog, though didn't do any damage. I think I might have left access to the blog editing function open by accident and someone had fun.
COMMENT FUNCTION ADDED
Assuming things go correctly, I've added a comment function to my posts. From now on, one should be able to add a comment to one of my posts.
Comments must be SFW-Safe For Work/Family Friendly and appropriate. I'll delete anything I deem profane or inappropriate.
So, if you stop by, say hello and make any comments you like.. such as how cute Gabriel is!
OREGON ICE STORM
We're in the middle of a big ice storm in the Portland area, but nothing as severe as last year.
Local news is all over it - to excess, as usual. Here in Hillsboro, the ground isn't cold enough to have allowed much of an ice glaze, but a lot of objects such as outdoor furniture, cars and other cold objects have a slight layer of ice. Apparently, closer to the Columbia Gorge, ice has been far more severe with major traffic closures.
But, with the National Figure Skating championships here in Portland tonight, the show must go on. Maybe there'll be coverage during the show. It's always fun seeing how clueless most Oregon drivers are.. or stoned, rather.
It seems that yesterday, someone - Jeff K? (warning: site frequently NSFW) - hacked my blog, though didn't do any damage. I think I might have left access to the blog editing function open by accident and someone had fun.
COMMENT FUNCTION ADDED
Assuming things go correctly, I've added a comment function to my posts. From now on, one should be able to add a comment to one of my posts.
Comments must be SFW-Safe For Work/Family Friendly and appropriate. I'll delete anything I deem profane or inappropriate.
So, if you stop by, say hello and make any comments you like.. such as how cute Gabriel is!
OREGON ICE STORM
We're in the middle of a big ice storm in the Portland area, but nothing as severe as last year.
Local news is all over it - to excess, as usual. Here in Hillsboro, the ground isn't cold enough to have allowed much of an ice glaze, but a lot of objects such as outdoor furniture, cars and other cold objects have a slight layer of ice. Apparently, closer to the Columbia Gorge, ice has been far more severe with major traffic closures.
But, with the National Figure Skating championships here in Portland tonight, the show must go on. Maybe there'll be coverage during the show. It's always fun seeing how clueless most Oregon drivers are.. or stoned, rather.
Friday, January 14, 2005
WELL WELL WELL, IT SEEMS AS IF A CERTAIN SMARYTY MAN DID NOT PROTECT HIS COMPUTAR MACHENE FROM A CLEVAR HACX0R, ADN NOW SI PLAYING TEH PRICE!!! HELO MY NAEM SI JEFF K. AND YUO MAY REMAMABAR ME AS A INTARNET CELEBRIDY BECUASE MY AWARD WINNIING WEDBSITE HAS WON MANEY AWARDS FOR QUALIETY IN A FIELD OF EXAMPLES!
I GOT TIRED OF WRITEING FOR MY WEBPAEG SO NOW I HACKED INTO THIS WEBSITE AND DECIDED TO WRITE HEAR BECAUSE I AM A RENISANCE MAN!!!
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
(IT'S NOW A) HAPPY NEW YEAR
Though things are now going well, the new year did not have an auspicious start. Jill, Gabriel and I all contracted a strain of the Norwalk virus on New Year's Day. We're not completely sure of how we got it, but we have theories. The critical issue is how frighteningly quickly and stealthily it passed on to others. I can see how this virus would wreak serious havoc on a cruise ship, the commonly associated venue for infections.
Gramma Judy, Gramma Dianne, Andrea and Jim Ed all contracted the illness due to their contact with us, most likely Gabriel, immediately after our New Year's Day exposure. The virus is passed through vomit or feces and, well, Gabriel is quite the manufacturer of both. Contact with him and his spit-up is what likely passed the virus onto others. Luckily, Charlotte and John were spared the malady.
In all, it took roughly three days to near-fully recover from most symptoms. Dehydration was the longest-lasting problem with associated headaches and weakness. Some have reported residual intestinal distress several days following, but mildly so. I missed two (and a half) days of work and worked from home another full day just so I wouldn't possibly pass it on to coworkers, particularly Jerry because Sue is in her third trimester, plus Emma and Henry are particularly vulnerable.
All is much better now, though, and things seem to be normalizing. We're now hand-washing Nazis when it comes to contact with food (we were that way before - 3rd world travel!) but particularly before and after playing with Gabriel.
Happy New Year!
MOM & DAD MOVE INTO HILLSBORO
The move from the Vancouver apartment was quite a success and a day early to boot. The biggest bonus, however, was the fact that Jim Ed and Andrea volunteered to help with the move and contributed greatly to its speed and ease.
Between 9am and 3pm, about 95% was loaded and moved to Hillsboro, though we did run into heavy rain during the drive over. Unloaded was a cinch, but we did get the tail end of the showers moving through. The wettest part was loading our nice, Tigard washer and dryer set into the UHaul. All in all, it was a great success. We had a barbecue dinner (Reo's Ribs - good pork ribs, shoe leather chicken) that night, but unfortunately, that is likely when the virus was passed. Sorry!
Mom's still moving in, just got her Dish Network yesterday and is waiting on Dad's return for more heavy lifting. Congrats on the new home!
I still don't have the new address (SE Maple in Hillsboro, OR 97123) and neither have I their new phone number immediately handy.
FAMILY DINNERS
We had a very nice dinner Monday night at Jin Wah in Beaverton courtesy of Charlotte Wachdorf. Jin Wah is our favorite Chinese restaurant.. The owners are an ethnically Chinese couple from Vietnam, so fresh Vietnamese and Cantonese style food, particularly seafood and all day dim sum (yum cha, actually), is on the menu in addition to standard Szechuan and Hunan cuisine. Their dim sum is the closest in quality and variety to what we enjoyed on our trip to Hong Kong last year.
After dinner, we returned to our house for a game of Rummy Dum-Dum (Wachdorf tradition). Koke managed to win, apparently his second in a row "Boston Redsox win again!"
We'll likely all return to Jin Wah in the near future: Charlotte admitted that even though they didn't have Egg Fu Young on the menu, she enjoyed everything about her meal. That's saying something.
Last night, Gramma Dianne came over for Shepherd's Pie (Cottage Pie, technically) and to visit little Gabriel. She had endured an all-day satellite TV installation - was he union?
We had a nice dinner and Gabriel enjoyed his Gramma's visit. He giggled and laughed quite a bit for her, so that was fun.
HEADED TO THE O.C.:
MAKE THAT A 2X2 ANIMAL STYLE WITH A SHAKE
I've been given a quick job to do in Santa Ana, Orange County and will be down there at the end of the week. I'll overnight Thursday and head back on Friday evening. I'm looking at the residential market in Santa Ana. Should be fun, though I'm interested to see how many stops at In N Out I can make.
JILL HEARS FROM VANESSA
Jill's old friend and matron of honor Vanessa called last week to chat and catch up. She's starting a new career in Los Angeles working her way up to do make-up and fashion design, a long-time ambition. Jill was quite excited and hopes to talk to her more in the future and do more catching up. They go way back, the extent to which there are photos from high school that Jill won't even let me see.
Congratulations and best of luck on your new endeavors, Vanessa.
ANOTHER ROOT CANAL
Tom emailed to say that pain and suffering have not been monopolized in Hillsboro. He had to have a root canal redone because of infection risk to his jaw. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say he's happy it's all over with and recovery is ensured.
GAY MARRIAGE AND PARENTING
Although Mass. and San Francisco get a lot of gay marriage press, the fact is that Oregon, specifically Multnomah County (Portland) issued many gay marriage licenses prior to the November election. Our own Measure 36 abolished the practice. People flew in from all over the country to take part in the County's politically corrupt experiment.
Who marries whom is an important debate, but I find it a bit of a distraction from the real issue: children and child-rearing. I firmly believe that a male father and a female mother is the God-ordained and biologically-intended family structure for reproduction of our species. Arguments to the contrary are, in my opinion, nothing more than self-absorbed claptrap disguised as a humanist, egalitarian civil rights movement (ask the Black community what they think of the civil rights comparisons!) that has nothing to do with the welfare of children and everything to do with the politics of homosexual self-esteem.
But aren't there studies that suggest homosexual parents are either just as good or better than heterosexual parents you say?
Why yes, but as this article so ably explains, those studies have come under harsh criticism from not only conservative critics of homosexual family structures but also noted social scientists that support alternative family structures.
The bottom line is that respected social scientists from both camps on the issue find previous research on welfare of children with gay parents to have no real scientific merit (read: not objective, not reliable, likely designed to have a pre-determined outcome) and must be viewed with strong skepticism.
In fact, "research" to date has focused on male-female parents where one was actually gay and pursued that sexuality after marriage and the children came along. Disclosure, participant bias, absence of control groups, unreliable data and unreliable resulting analysis predominate. There is also little to no real study of the effects of out-and-out same-sex couples, the hot topic of the marriage debate.
Check out the article and decide for yourself.. at the very least, the real debate is in extremely early stages and pro- arguments have extremely little merit even in the eyes of sympathetic scientists.
Though things are now going well, the new year did not have an auspicious start. Jill, Gabriel and I all contracted a strain of the Norwalk virus on New Year's Day. We're not completely sure of how we got it, but we have theories. The critical issue is how frighteningly quickly and stealthily it passed on to others. I can see how this virus would wreak serious havoc on a cruise ship, the commonly associated venue for infections.
Gramma Judy, Gramma Dianne, Andrea and Jim Ed all contracted the illness due to their contact with us, most likely Gabriel, immediately after our New Year's Day exposure. The virus is passed through vomit or feces and, well, Gabriel is quite the manufacturer of both. Contact with him and his spit-up is what likely passed the virus onto others. Luckily, Charlotte and John were spared the malady.
In all, it took roughly three days to near-fully recover from most symptoms. Dehydration was the longest-lasting problem with associated headaches and weakness. Some have reported residual intestinal distress several days following, but mildly so. I missed two (and a half) days of work and worked from home another full day just so I wouldn't possibly pass it on to coworkers, particularly Jerry because Sue is in her third trimester, plus Emma and Henry are particularly vulnerable.
All is much better now, though, and things seem to be normalizing. We're now hand-washing Nazis when it comes to contact with food (we were that way before - 3rd world travel!) but particularly before and after playing with Gabriel.
Happy New Year!
MOM & DAD MOVE INTO HILLSBORO
The move from the Vancouver apartment was quite a success and a day early to boot. The biggest bonus, however, was the fact that Jim Ed and Andrea volunteered to help with the move and contributed greatly to its speed and ease.
Between 9am and 3pm, about 95% was loaded and moved to Hillsboro, though we did run into heavy rain during the drive over. Unloaded was a cinch, but we did get the tail end of the showers moving through. The wettest part was loading our nice, Tigard washer and dryer set into the UHaul. All in all, it was a great success. We had a barbecue dinner (Reo's Ribs - good pork ribs, shoe leather chicken) that night, but unfortunately, that is likely when the virus was passed. Sorry!
Mom's still moving in, just got her Dish Network yesterday and is waiting on Dad's return for more heavy lifting. Congrats on the new home!
I still don't have the new address (SE Maple in Hillsboro, OR 97123) and neither have I their new phone number immediately handy.
FAMILY DINNERS
We had a very nice dinner Monday night at Jin Wah in Beaverton courtesy of Charlotte Wachdorf. Jin Wah is our favorite Chinese restaurant.. The owners are an ethnically Chinese couple from Vietnam, so fresh Vietnamese and Cantonese style food, particularly seafood and all day dim sum (yum cha, actually), is on the menu in addition to standard Szechuan and Hunan cuisine. Their dim sum is the closest in quality and variety to what we enjoyed on our trip to Hong Kong last year.
After dinner, we returned to our house for a game of Rummy Dum-Dum (Wachdorf tradition). Koke managed to win, apparently his second in a row "Boston Redsox win again!"
We'll likely all return to Jin Wah in the near future: Charlotte admitted that even though they didn't have Egg Fu Young on the menu, she enjoyed everything about her meal. That's saying something.
Last night, Gramma Dianne came over for Shepherd's Pie (Cottage Pie, technically) and to visit little Gabriel. She had endured an all-day satellite TV installation - was he union?
We had a nice dinner and Gabriel enjoyed his Gramma's visit. He giggled and laughed quite a bit for her, so that was fun.
HEADED TO THE O.C.:
MAKE THAT A 2X2 ANIMAL STYLE WITH A SHAKE
I've been given a quick job to do in Santa Ana, Orange County and will be down there at the end of the week. I'll overnight Thursday and head back on Friday evening. I'm looking at the residential market in Santa Ana. Should be fun, though I'm interested to see how many stops at In N Out I can make.
JILL HEARS FROM VANESSA
Jill's old friend and matron of honor Vanessa called last week to chat and catch up. She's starting a new career in Los Angeles working her way up to do make-up and fashion design, a long-time ambition. Jill was quite excited and hopes to talk to her more in the future and do more catching up. They go way back, the extent to which there are photos from high school that Jill won't even let me see.
Congratulations and best of luck on your new endeavors, Vanessa.
ANOTHER ROOT CANAL
Tom emailed to say that pain and suffering have not been monopolized in Hillsboro. He had to have a root canal redone because of infection risk to his jaw. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say he's happy it's all over with and recovery is ensured.
GAY MARRIAGE AND PARENTING
Although Mass. and San Francisco get a lot of gay marriage press, the fact is that Oregon, specifically Multnomah County (Portland) issued many gay marriage licenses prior to the November election. Our own Measure 36 abolished the practice. People flew in from all over the country to take part in the County's politically corrupt experiment.
Who marries whom is an important debate, but I find it a bit of a distraction from the real issue: children and child-rearing. I firmly believe that a male father and a female mother is the God-ordained and biologically-intended family structure for reproduction of our species. Arguments to the contrary are, in my opinion, nothing more than self-absorbed claptrap disguised as a humanist, egalitarian civil rights movement (ask the Black community what they think of the civil rights comparisons!) that has nothing to do with the welfare of children and everything to do with the politics of homosexual self-esteem.
But aren't there studies that suggest homosexual parents are either just as good or better than heterosexual parents you say?
Why yes, but as this article so ably explains, those studies have come under harsh criticism from not only conservative critics of homosexual family structures but also noted social scientists that support alternative family structures.
The bottom line is that respected social scientists from both camps on the issue find previous research on welfare of children with gay parents to have no real scientific merit (read: not objective, not reliable, likely designed to have a pre-determined outcome) and must be viewed with strong skepticism.
In fact, "research" to date has focused on male-female parents where one was actually gay and pursued that sexuality after marriage and the children came along. Disclosure, participant bias, absence of control groups, unreliable data and unreliable resulting analysis predominate. There is also little to no real study of the effects of out-and-out same-sex couples, the hot topic of the marriage debate.
Check out the article and decide for yourself.. at the very least, the real debate is in extremely early stages and pro- arguments have extremely little merit even in the eyes of sympathetic scientists.
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