Sicknesses, Political Mularcky, and a Half-Plucked Dog

FIRST, I should apologize. I did not realize that Lou and Lori had both left comments on my earlier blog (hello, auntie's!). I have now changed my settings so that I get an email anytime someone leaves a comment, so from now on I can respond appropriately to any future posts.

I got Sick this Week

So I caught some random bug this week. I stayed home and slept thursday, and have been doing excessive amounts of napping for most of the last week. For a couple of days I also had a slightly sore mouth, which I think is a new one for me. It was like having a sore throat, except it was my gums, inner cheeks, and other various pieces inside my mouth. If I hadn't already had mono, I would have perhaps guessed I had it. But then again, I I hadn't already had mono, I wouldn't know what it felt like, and probably wouldn't have made a comparison to it. A quick stop at WebMD.com gave me this helpful advice (paraphrasing) - "Don't always assume it is herpes". Well thank you for that nugget of medical wisdom. Although I appreciate their concern, I happened to be a step ahead of them in this particular regard. I think Wikipedia and WebMD have two things in common.

1. 
   
   They both have TONS of information


2. 
   
   Their usefulness is counter-intuitive

I would never have guessed that Wikipedia would be even remotely useful, but it turns out there's a TON of good information on it. Sadly, WebMD sounds like a good idea, but it ends up just being a place that people search on when they are afraid they caught an STD. Anyway.....the good news is that I'm pretty much back to normal.

Oliver Got Sick Too

In what appears to be an unrelated incident, Oliver gave the impression that he had a near-death experience friday night. Here's the short version of the story......He fell out of bed friday night (occasionally he is allowed there) and was scurrying around like he was trying to escape some sort of pain. His back leg definitely wasn't working correctly, because he had a serious alignment issue that was forcing him to constantly turn right (insert Derek Zoolander ambi-turner joke here). After walking all the way around 3 sides of my bed (going right), he sadly rammed into the wall and then scurried out of the bedroom where I caught him and he peed on the floor. Then he took off again and threw up back in the bedroom. So I picked him up and took him to the safety of the ceramic tile in my kitchen (where he threw up a little more). By the time I did some initial clean-up of the various fluids, he had calmed down a lot and seemed fine. We went outside and he took a dump, but basically acted like nothing had happened. I have lots of possible explanations for this, but I really have no idea. I'll be keeping an eye on the situation, but he seems unphased now.

As a sidenote, is there a veterinarin version of WebMD? It seems like the philosophy of self-diagnosis and half-measured solutions is better suited for pets than people anyway.....just sayin'.

The 'Get to Know Michael' Pop Quiz

What does Michael have in common with a typical teenage girl????

a. He is self-conscious about his body

b. His texting antics are out-of-control

c. He has a crush on Justin Timberlake

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If you guessed 'c', you'd be correct. I inexplicably had an extra $33 in text charges on my bill this month! Stop the madness! People need to quit texting me, and they probably will as soon as they realize that I'm not that likely to respond anymore unless it's really warranted.

Entertainment Section

I saw the movie "Burn After Reading" this weekend. (By looking at my blog you'd think I went to the movies alot, but you'd be wrong.) I don't really recommend this movie for anybody, although if you love other Coen Brothers' movies you will likely go anyway. Suck-o.

I also caugh the end of the David Blaine "Dive of Death", and that was pitiful. BUT, if you were let down by this, perhaps this little video clip will cheer you up. (Note: Everyone is obviously welcome to watch this, but if you aren't familiar with David Blaine's "Street Magic" you probably won't appreciate this clip. I'm kinda looking at you, Mom and Dad :-)

In other comedy news, I'm going to see Jim Gaffigan here in Dayton this thursday. I'll let ya know how it goes.....

I'm frantically working on a plan to go to Alabama to play golf in November. They have a bunch of courses that are part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail that are supposed to be awesome for fall/winter. More to come on this....

Oliver is Having a HORRIBLE Week

In addition to his strange illness, Oliver also has an owner who is intent on plucking all of his long hairs out. Here's a picture at ~50% completion. I've gotten much better at this and I can pretty much get this done in about 3 hours of effort. But in general it's not really that good of a time. It's probably his version of a human's trip to the dentist.

Political Commentary

I'm not sure if you've all heard about this, but it turns out that America is screwed. How do I know? Well, Lou Dobbs and Ron Paul were the only people I saw on CNN or MSNBC that were making any sense. And that is in the book of Revelations as a sign of the apocalypse (NEWEST New Revised Edition....they caught another monk typo). It doesn't matter who gets elected, they are just as screwed as the rest of us. In fact, they may be even more screwed. We're probably just about due for an assassination attempt (Note to Secret Service - I'm just speculating, not planning.) I'm estimating that we may be back to 'normal' in 3 presidents. But they might as well announce now that the guy who wins this election won't get re-elected because he's not going to be able to un-do all the stupid shit that's happened already. I'm not even that motivated to go vote now, despite my location in a swing-state. Sorry Barack and John, that's just bad timing for you guys. PUT YOUR MONEY IN A COFFEE CAN AND BURY IT IN YOUR BACKYARD!!!!! (jk)