Check out what I picked up today at The Comic Shop today. It’s the latest addition to my collection of supervillain statues. Magneto, Master of Magnetism! When Akemi asked me what I bought, I told her it was her early birthday present (two weeks away!). Unbeknownst to her (in the unlikely event she doesn’t read this blog), I’ve got some other things in the works for the big day – “special plans” that I can’t divulge because she has spies everywhere. I can, however, divulge that it involves the consumption of comestibles in a public setting.
In the meantime, my other girl, Jelly (pictured above) has been having a rough couple of days. Despite the fact that she suffers from hip dysplasia (made manageable by the stem cell treatment she received via Vet-Stem – Vet-Stem Cell Therapy: Arthritis in Dogs & Cats | Tendons …), she usually manages a wobbly walk down to the corner and back. But, as of yesterday, she is incapable of even a few steps. I’m not sure whether it’s a deterioration in her condition or a possible injury she suffered on the slippery hardwood floor (those areas not covered by runners for her comfort).
She’s scheduled to see a specialist on Friday morning. In the meantime, her regular vet prescribed her some Percocet.
This was supposed to be THE WEEK, the week that I would finally achieve resolution/clarity on a number of outstanding issues. With two days to go, that’s looking increasingly unlikely. In fact, certain outstanding issues have taken a step back. So, what’s a guy to do? Well, I’ll tell you what he aint gonna do: maintain that sunny disposition and assume things are going to sort themselves out eventually. I just don’t have the time (nor, quite frankly, the patience) to continue along this drawn-out path so I’m handing this off to the professionals. Let them figure it out sometime in the not too distant future. From a personal/genial/hey-let’s-make-this-work perspective, I am DONE.
On the bright side, no doubt sensing it was one of those days, Akemi treated me to a double dessert tonight:
News of note:
Feast your eyes (not your brain) on these: http://io9.com/12-movies-that-are-incredibly-beautiful-and-utterly-vap-468403055
Don’t worry. The government has your backs. ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ slips silently through US Congress — RT USA Wait, did I say “your back”. I meant “their” backs.
BITCOIN HITS RECORD HIGH OF $147. How’s Monopoly money doing?
I can’t help but feel partly responsible: Hit Cable Series on the Rise as Broadcasters Suffer Record-Low Ratings | Variety
Via the gang at www.SFSignal.com: Game of Thrones Gets Auto-Tuned :
I knew it! Salad is more dangerous than beefburgers, leading food expert warns – Telegraph
Ah, good old holier-than-thou PETA. Classic “Do as we say, not as we do”: PETA Euthanized 1,675 Animals in 2012 – J.K. Trotter – The Atlantic Wire
How spiral galaxies evolve: http://www.space.com/20477-evolution-of-spiral-galaxy-arms-simulated-using-supercomputer-video.html
Finally, sad news regarding one of my very favorite SF authors: Author Iain Banks has terminal cancer
Mailbag:
Lewis writes: “Curious though, no one from SGU. If it had gone on for more seasons, is there anyone from SGU that you think could have made it on the list?”
Answer: No one from SGU because all of the supporting characters we developed over the show’s two year run (ie. Volker, Brody, Park, etc.) were envisioned as recurring rather than one-offs. Even the character of Varro was introduced with the intention of having him play over several episodes, perhaps eve more (which is what ended up happening).
Patricia Stewart-Bertrand writes: “I would also include Apophis, played by Peter Williams, the very first ‘over-the-top’ bad guy.”
Answer: Again, not conceived as a one-off character. He was established as a Big Bad early in SG-1’s run.
gforce writes: “Did you notice that the movie that the gangster father was taking his kid to see was “The Spirit”?”
Answer: Not The Spirit but (even better) The Spirit III! It was the unintentionally funniest part of the movie.
Mike A. writes: “One last question, I assume this movie would’ve taken place during the events of Continuum, correct? Hence, Carter’s mentioning of the “new moon base”?”
Answer: Yes, that was the original plan.
Kymm writes: “Why don’t people have to go to the bathroom in space? I mean some of those puddle jumper trips were pretty long…”
Answer: March 7, 2009: How do you answer the call of nature if you’re stuck on a cargo ship? In the case of the puddle jumper, I imagine everybody just holds on tight while the rear ramp is lowered, then allow rapid decompression to do the rest.
I hope bitcoin can find a way not to get toppled by the feds. A competing currency would solve a lot of issues, but of course by “solve” I mean take a little bit of licence to exercise power at our expense from the powerful so of course it will come under fire. Bitcoin’s not perfect, but it’s better than Federal Reserve notes in a lot of ways.
Liberty Dollar was a better player to field than bitcoin, but the feds raided them and seized the assets of the participants so even if we can get that idea re-started, participants will be too shy to risk their assets. Bitcoin’s the best player we can get onto an unfair field because it’s harder to seize, but I’m sure the attempt to thwart the effort will be made.
Good luck with Jelly!
Aw,,hope Jelly gets to feeling better. {{hugs}}
~ Akemi, the pancakes looks delicious and the cookie/icecream, love desserts..wow,,.thanks. I feel in good company for birthdays, mine is also coming up. yippee, celebrate a lot Akemi. Do fun stuff.
~Sad to hear about Iain Banks, so young.
You show us a big box? Come on Joe, get it out! I wanna see…!
Poor Jelly Belly. I hope she gets to feeling better. Glad she doesn’t drive! Surely drivers aren’t on Percocet. No, excuse me, they are all just texting while driving! (and walking, and working, and….) Oops, got off subject. Give Miss Jelly Beans and snuggly hug for me.
Last year you had a chef come in and prepare a beautiful meal at home for Akemi ‘s birthday. How in the world are you going to top that?
Now I want a pancake.
@Varro
He was such a underused character with so much potential had the show gone on for longer. Certainly if he was part of an offworld team going on a casual mission to recon or gather supplies, he would be a Teal’c like character, as in someone with power(Strength and skill) and knowledge, someone able to defend his team and do it in such an amazing way.
“Why don’t people have to go to the bathroom in space?”
That’s one of the reasons Firefly was so awesome… they showed the toilet on the ship.
Ohh Jelly gets the good stuff, hopefully she believes in sharesies.
One of life’s burning questions answered. Sounds like I’ve perhaps misunderstood the name/term *puddle* jumper all along… *smirks*
Fingers crossed for a positive result on the career front.
K
Poor pup. Glad she is rocking to some good meds. You are the BEST Daddy ever.
Feel better soon, Jelly girl!
Give Jelly a good bug and ear scratch for me. Also, too bad about the non-developments. Just like things can go bad so quickly, maybe they can turn out well quickly too.
“The Spirit III”? Bleargh.
Much love to Jelly.
Now off to make pancakes.
1. *gently huggles Jelly* Feel better, ol’ girl!
2. *bear hugs Joey* Feel better, ol’ man!
3. Consumption of comestibles in a public setting”…for some reason that sounds naughty to me…
4. Peta sucks. Not for what they did, but for being hypocrites.
5. GMO’s are gonna kill us.
6. Salads are not going to kill us. You know what IS gonna kill us? The ‘health’ media, for making us all so goddamn paranoid that we stop eating and drinking everything and resort to living on vitamins and old people protein drinks.
7. I refuse to get sucked into the Game of Thrones…even though the devil has whispered in my ear “but it has sexy Jerome Flynn…and he runs around adorned in leather and mud and stuff”…but I refuse to listen! I just can’t get roped into an ‘epic’ series, both because it sucks up so much time, and because I’m sure it has more death…and boobs…than I care for. Did I just dangle my preposition? Yes…and for some reason that sounds naughty to me…
d as in danglage
Poor Jelly! Poor baby girl! *hugs and kisses for Jelly* Just give her lots of lovin. Joe, you are a good daddy to baby doggies. 🙂
Good luck with the Vet today Mr. M.! Hopefully, there will be some new treatment you could try. My big cat is having problems getting around. I’m trying to get his weight down but it’s very slow, since he sleeps most of the day. My hubby thinks we ought to get him a hover chair like Rygel had on Farscape.
Comments on your links: Those were good visuals in the movies. We have a big new TV that makes everything look great.
Not at all surprised by Congress slipping something in. It’s done ALL the time.
Salad bad for you? I’ve been reading about those salad bags for a while. It’s not just those that can be a problem. Hubby had terrible food poisoning last year after eating a Cesar Salad at a very nice restaurant while traveling for business. He’s been going grocery shopping on business trips lately. He says he feels safer buying a bag of carrots than ordering a salad. It’s been working, no more food poisoning (yet).
Did Akemi make those desserts? They sure did look yummy!
You are the best daddy…always looking after your family.
Looking forward to hearing details of the surprises for Akemi.
Hoping to hear good news for Jelly.
Joe
Did you find evidence that dog stem cell therapy would actually work before you tried it or were you willing to give it a try with the thought that it would be unlikely to make things worse and possibly make Jelly better?
My dog is having arthritis problems but so far I can’t find any convincing evidence that stem cell therapy works.
I suppose you would have to record how often he moved, walked, if he appeared to be in pain, before the treatment, then compare it to after the treatment. But even so, a lot of it could be considered subjective and might be due to nice weather, it being warm rather then cold. I know I tend to suffer more during cold damp weather then when it’s warm and sunny, like the last two days.
I’ve started him on buffered ASA when needed, warm showers and I bought him a dog heating pad for his bed from Amazon.ca. The heating pad only warms a few degrees above ambient temperature, but he loves it. So far it seems to be making a difference.
Oh, I forgot. For some reason I dreamt you had a pack of wolves instead of pugs, and they pooped in your hallway, because they were disrespectful of the cleaning staff. Completely random weird dream.
Mike from Canada: Here are a couple of links about Jelly’s journey with the stem cell procedure. It sounds good. I was telling my vet about it and she wanted to get the procedure done on herself!
http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/november-25-2010-jelly-update-mailbag/
http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/february-28-2012-jelly-on-a-roll-projects-and-such-mailbag/
Huh. I missed a couple of days(working 48 hours can do that to you). Sorry to hear Jelly is having a rough time. Loved the links. Also looking forward to Kick Ass 2 coming out soon. And sent my niece up to Mount Vernon to pick up some bottles of whiskey; seems that George Washington’s home was a brewery back in the day, and they have decided to run off a batch of the stuff using his recipe. Should be interesting. Hope to to a better job of keeping up with you, and still cheering for those steps backwards turn into a run forward to a touchdown.