Thankful in different ways.

So I went to bed REALLY late this past Thanksgiving eve, fully expecting to be able to sleep in until 10 or so; late enough that I get about eight hours of sleep. These thoughts were pushed to the side by the phone ringing at about 7am. My sister calling, telling my girlfriend that they were taking my nephew, Mitchell, to the ER with a severe nosebleed.

Backstory: Mitchell has hemophilia (sub-type C) as well as von Willebrand's disease (sub-type IIb). This means that he's really prone to bleeding. We first got a clue about it (but didn't make the connection) when he got circumsized. Bled like a stuck pig. Anyway, we have to be careful about his typical toddler (3 ½ yo) life. On Thursday, he got a nosebleed starting around 4:30 in the morning. By 7:30, he was on the way to the ER. Now mind you, this isn't an SNL-version of Julia Child spraying blood all over the kitchen. This is just a constant -- non-stop -- bleeding episode.

We got to the hospital shortly after 8am, and my sis and her husband were there with the kids already. So they handed my neice, McKenzie (also a hemophiliac C) to us and went back to Mitchell.

By 10:00, we were let into the pediatric ER waiting room (duh, it's where they were and we were stuck in the regular ER) and were able to move back and forth a little into Mitchell's room. My sis was wiping his bloody nose constantly but it was a wipe/wait/bleed/repeat process. They were going to give him a platelet infusion to stem the bleeding some pending hearing from the hematology doc that Mitchell sees. His platelet count was about 10,000; normal being 150,000 to 350,000. While they were waiting, it was decided that we would take McKenzie back to my sister's place, since she was getting cranky from lack of sleep and lack of nappage. We left about 11:00.

We got to the house around 11:30 and proceeded to just vegitate. McKenzie napped in the car on the way home but that was about the end of it. My gf tried to put her down for a nap around 1pm but she was having none of that. So we sat around and watched TV and tried to entertain McKenzie. I was very popular with her by wadding up pieces of newspaper and bouncing them off her head. She thought that was great fun.

By 3pm or so, it was plain that there would be no Thanksgiving for us. Sis had put together all the fixin's but we didn't know when they'd be home. It was obvious it wasn't gonna be any time soon. They admitted Mitchell for observation and didn't give him the platelet infusion, since the bleeding was gradually slowing. We scrounged and found the pink salad that we have for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. Mom started it, Sis continues the tradition. It's good yet weird, and it isn't a holiday without it. There's Cool Whip and mandarin oranges in it and cottage cheese. That's all I know for sure. I just eat it.

So that's how the afternoon progressed into evening. I was tossing paper off McKenzie's head and she was having a pretty good time. Everyone got home around 7:30 or so and Mitchell was fine, though bloody. He definately needed a bath! He was tired but OK, thankfully. We decided to leave pretty quick after that, meeting userinforiffalike in Canton for Chinese buffet. How traditional is that???

Ironically, everyone at the hospital got turkey for dinner and they gave Sis and B-i-L a plate, too.

Pass the California rolls, please.

Sticker fun in our paranoid schools!!

Textbook disclaimers

How British am I?

As if there was ANY doubt...

Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!

How British are you?

this quiz was made by alanna

Oh, yeah

I'm starting to cross-post in LJ. I'm still not 100% about doing the conversion, as LJ doesn't have quite the set-up I'd like but it can be a little more granular about stuff when I need to be, well, private.

My LJ stuff is here

Today's quote

"As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more
closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain
folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." -H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

Note to the ignorant ABC affiliates

You're a bunch of scared assholes.

Article discussing the cancellation of tonight's presentation of Saving Private Ryan

From the article:

While the stations have already aired the World War II drama twice before, they decided to preempt this year's run after deciding Ryan's graphic depiction of the D-Day invasion and use of profanity (the film contains upwards of three dozen F-bombs) was not appropriate for prime-time in the wake of the recent FCC crackdown on CBS over Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction.

Morons, there's a difference between an accurate depiction of the horrors of combat and the insanity of war and Justin and Janet pulling off a publicity stunt.

Or maybe we should just make all war films look like Hogan's Heroes; hilariously funny times in the Nazi POW camps. I'll bet the concentration camps were even funnier.

Remember the soldiers this holiday season.

Think about buying them something for the holiday. I'm sure they'll appreciate it more than you'll know. There's little worse in life than being stuck in the field (or in combat, I'm sure) and being far away from loved ones during special times.

Go to www.anysoldier.com and you can find out how to send them a care package.

November 11

The armistice for "The War to End All Wars" was signed at 11:00am on 11/11/1918.
If only that were the case.

This Veterans Day, remember those who serve and who have served. Remember those who fought and came back and those who fought and remained.

Dream for an end to all wars. No one wants peace more than a solider.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

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

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

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

There are a million stories in the Naked City...

And this is one of them:

From the files of the Ann Arbor Police Department:
Nov. 3rd, 2004 10:58 pm Fraudulent activities @ SOUTH QUADRANGLE -- 600 MADISON

3 Nov 2004 22:58:03 EST, Caller advised he received an email asking him to verify his credit card information. He did so and today his credit card company advised him of an unauthorized cash advance.

600 MADISON

(cad #43080180, Incident Report #04-004332)

Ann Arbor is said to have one of the highest per capita IQs in the country. Or that's what they say, at least. Duh.