13 Days

So I have thirteen days to go before I can pick up the new ES.

Apparently "13 Days" is a phrase commonly used to refer to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. That year, Cuban and Soviet governments decided to place nuclear missiles on Cuba to protect it from US harassment. When the US discovered this, panic ensued as they tried to remove the missiles. This was one of the moments in during the cold war where we really came close to a nuclear war! CRAZY.

I just finished reading a book called "The Last Oracle" which had a large portion of its plot center around the ruins of the Soviet nuclear age, specifically the disaster at Chernobyl. It's really fascinating stuff; that we can manipulate nature to the point that it becomes highly toxic to our bodies, and that if we are exposed to radioactive materials for long enough, it can kill us!

The areas surrounding that nuclear disaster have suffered long term consequences of that horrible reality. I came across a fascinating, if very sad, photo journalism presentation on the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl which you can find by CLICKING HERE. CLICK HERE for another slide show of the abandoned town of Pripyat which was the little village built to house the workers of the nuclear plant.

In conclusion, here are some 13-day old Labrador puppies:

20 Days To Go...

I'm counting down the days until I can pick up a recent acquisition...

These are some of the videos that come up when I searched for "20 Days" on YouTube:

Talking Animals?

It figures that this would only be in Candada...


This on the other hand is real!


Search YouTube for "talking animals" and you can easily waste a good half hour...

Patience - Pt 1

Usually I am a pretty patient person. I have to be patient for the next 22 days. July 13th is the day.

While I wait, I will remind myself that people who lose their patience and flip out are like the following guy in an elevator.

I suppose if I really wanted to make the time pass faster, I could try and sleep more. Remember when you were in the car for a long trip, and you were like "ugghhh, this stinks..." and then you fell asleep? Yep, when you woke up, you had that drool all over your face to be sure, but you were THERE! I don't know if I can justify all that extra napping though...I may have to get this mixed martial arts chick to do the same thing to me as she does to this interviewer guy at 4:30...

Hilarious Cat Captions

www.icanhascheezburger.com

Resolved 2009 Is Over

I will try and write more about the conference, which was FANTASTIC, but for now...

Resolved 2009 is HERE

Jess and I are leaving today for Palm Springs! Looking forward to a spectacular week of relaxing, worshiping, and hearing some killer teaching.

Here's a video of Bob Kauflin's song "Let Your Kingdom Come" from last year's conference!

Saved By The Bell Reunion

New late show host Jimmy Fallon is trying to get the entire original cast of Saved By The Bell to come on his show for a reunion in honor of their 20th anniversary! This was probably THE coolest show when I was growing up, and at various seasons, I swear you could watch it like five times a day between all the different channels on which it was syndicated.

To get caught up to speed, check out these links:

Reunion Update 1

Reunion Update 2

Reunion Update 3

After you've seen those, go to www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com and sign the online petition! This is too cool for school.

What a Canker - Part 2

So what I thought was a canker sore, actually ended up being something different! My sore had persevered for over two weeks, and it would alternate getting all puffy and red, and then white and shrively. I thought it best to visit Dr. Gururaja.

He gave me some antibiotics which were a spin off of good ol' Amoxicillin, and they were the size of your pointer finger from the tip to the first joint. Seriously. I was full after taking this pill.

Dr. Gururaja told me that the antibiotics should make this thing go away pretty quick, but he told me to come back the following week to make sure everything was kosher. As I took my horse pills, I noticed a little improvement, but not much. Then halfway through the week, I noticed that the dosage instructions were to take 1 pill TWICE A DAY. Oops. So I went back to the Dr. having not completed my medication, and still having this chunk of mleccchhh in my mouth. He said to finish the meds taking the appropriate dosage, but then he said that he was going to refer me to an ENT (Ear-Nose-Throat specialist), because he thought that I actually had a MUCOCELE!

Wikipedia said that a mucocele is a swelling of connective tissue due to a ruptured salivary gland duct usually caused by local trauma. I betcha biting my lip counts as trauma. Basically, I cut a saliva vein, and the mucous collected underneath the skin of my lower lip and just kept collecting and collecting. Every so often it would drain out but then it would just fill back up again.

Dr. Gururaja said that mucoceles weren't dangerous or contagious (my wife was very worried about this), but that they can keep on getting infected (YES then can!), so it's best to have them removed if they don't go away on their own (which they do some of the time). So I'd have to go to the ENT and have them snip it right out of my mouth. Sounds like fun...

It all ended up being a MOO-Point (you know, like a Cow's opinion: who cares?) since by the time I received Dr. Gururaja's referal in the mail, my trusty mucocele did indeed heal up on its own.

Just thought some of you might have needed closure on this whole episode...

Total Eclipse of the Heart (Literal Video)