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Friday, July 4th, 2008
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6:33 am - IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
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The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
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North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
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Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
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Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
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New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
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New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton |
current mood:  optimistic
current music: NPR News
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Friday, April 25th, 2008
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4:27 pm - Happiness is...
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Discovering that a customer's email to my boss was displayed during our Official Quarterly Meeting— to the entire company, worldwide— as an example of good customer service:Just dropping you a quick line to say how extraordinary (and gracious) Charles was to work with during the day today. His leadership and expertise were an extremely refreshing breath of air in an otherwise very tense (very, very long) post-migration troubleshooting exercise-- with a very visible and important client. Our sincere thanks is certainly in order here and I'd appreciate you placing this note in Charles' file for reference at review time. Thanks again! (Customer's name omitted for reasons of confidentiality.)
current mood:  accomplished
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(13 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
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9:21 pm - I am proud
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You may not know this, but my beloved wife ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) riverheart contributes to Daily Kos as Kitsap River.
Her most recent diary, How long can I afford to live?, was selected as one of eleven (out of several hundred posted today) considered sufficiently noteworthy to be recognized on the front page.
I am very proud of her— both for her bravery in facing a devastating illness, and her forthrightness in speaking out about the politics of healthcare in America.
current mood:  pleased
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, January 6th, 2008
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10:26 pm - A must-read LJ post by Elizabeth Moon
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Read this post. Now.
This is what frightens me the most about Huckabee, Romney, and all the bible-thumping Nehemiah Scudder wanna-bes: they LIE. By word and deed, every last one of these Pharisees wants to rip up the Constitution and replace it with their narrow-minded screeds.
Does it frighten you, too?
current mood:  discontent
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(11 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, December 25th, 2007
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9:58 pm - Happy Holidoozies!
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| Friday, December 21st, 2007
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1:51 pm - Ganked from rivka
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The Shortest Day
by Susan Cooper
And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!
current mood:  contemplative
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
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11:44 am - No matter where you go...
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…there you are.
Your Score: Buckaroo Banzai 152 Heart, 174 Genius, 164 Cool, 117 Excitability
Buckaroo Banzai - (Peter Weller)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
You are Buckaroo Banzai! Hard-rockin' neurosurgeon, brilliant scientist, and all-around cool guy. Maybe you didn't have the cinematic success of some of the other guys here, but it's okay - you're a cult classic!
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are."
Other scientific possibilities:
Gary Wallace
Wyatt Donnelly
Peter Venkman
Jordan Cochran
Egon Spengler
Doc Brown
Newton Crosby
Paul Stephens
Ben Crandall
Wayne Szalinkski
Winston Zeddemore
Ben Jabituya
Lazlo Hollyfeld
Ray Stantz
Buckaroo Banzai
Chris Knight
current mood:  amused
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| Tuesday, August 21st, 2007
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12:16 pm - Success!
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I don't know whether it was the haircut, the dye job, or your positive thoughts and support, but I signed an offer letter with F5 Networks this morning. I'll be starting on September 4, with benefits effective from that date. (It's the first working day of the month, so they won't impose the standard "wait until the first of the following month" delay.)
Thank you all, and wish me luck and fortune in my new job.
current mood:  thankful
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(15 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, August 17th, 2007
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12:38 am - Question for Seattleites
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Do any of you have any information, either direct or anecdotal, about working at f5 Networks?
I interviewed there today with a couple of managers, a senior manager, and an HR person. I can't say much about the nature of the job at the moment (drat those pesky NDAs) but it would be challenging yet within my grasp, a solid learning opportunity with significant promotion potential. I got the distinct impression that they'll most likely make me an offer by the middle of next week.
So, does anyone around here have anything they'd like to say, either positive or negative?
Anyone?
Anyone?
Bueller?
current mood: optimistic
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(18 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
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2:06 pm - Out of work. Again.
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That wonderful job I got in mid-June went South on me yesterday. The bosses decided that they needed a skill set that was significantly different from what I brought to bear— different enough that despite their earlier commitment to getting me trained in areas where they knew I was weak, they couldn't wait for me to learn whatever it was they needed. (They wouldn't say, despite my repeated request; all they said was that the decision to let me go had been made and wouldn't be rescinded.)
On the positive side (such as it is), I've been paid and will get two weeks' severance at the first of September, their next payroll period. And (unlike my previous employer) they won't try to contest my unemployment claim.
Dammit, this was an ideal commute, and a tremendous learning opportunity. Dammit.
So, I'm job-hunting again.
I'm just about ready to cut my hair short and dye it dark brown, in hopes of at least looking young enough to get past the first in-person contact. I'm looking at my 56th birthday anniversary this month, and it's hell competing with twenty- and thirty-year-olds in this job market.
At least I know COBOL. Take that, Gen-X slackers.
current mood:  pessimistic
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(28 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, June 29th, 2007
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11:22 pm - My mind is a scary place
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Just a moment ago I saw the words, "Werewolf: the Forsaken" in someone's LJ.
I swear by all the ten thousand little gods, I initially read that as "Werewolf: the Foreskin".
Help me.
current mood:  weird
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, June 17th, 2007
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12:33 pm - Cognitive Dissonance
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| Friday, June 1st, 2007
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5:04 pm - Tom Smith on LOLcats
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Go here and hit the play button.
Trust me; i has an internet.
current mood: amused
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(comment on this)
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| Thursday, May 24th, 2007
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9:00 pm - Those of you who also read riverheart...
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She's been trying to post an update in her journal since this morning, but the servers are not cooperating.
(Maybe SixApart, who buys a lot of gear from my former employer, is having a meltdown because of that "former" status... Heh.)
current mood: pessimistic
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7:41 pm - Tell me something. Anything.
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My life feels basically full of suxxus maximus right this moment. Talk to me.
current mood:  pissed off
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
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4:06 pm - Millions have eaten chickens fed tainted pet food
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From CNN:NEW YORK (CNN) -- People have eaten millions of chickens that were given feed tainted with recalled pet food, federal officials said Tuesday, though they said the threat to human health is minimal.
The announcement came after an investigation of chicken farms in Indiana found that 38 of the facilities had given contaminated feed to poultry raised for human consumption, and that 2.5 million to 3 million people ate them.
The officials added that they expect to discover that chickens on possibly hundreds of farms in other states were also given tainted feed. (My beloved riverheart has compromised kidneys…)The FDA's investigation began in March after at least 17 cats and dogs died of kidney failure linked to the tainted pet food. The urine of cats that ate the food tested positive for melamine, an industrial chemical used in the manufacturing of plastic utensils and fertilizer.
Investigators suspect that melamine, in combination with a rice protein additive imported from China and found to contain cyanuric acid, may cause crystals to form in the kidneys, shutting them down. Cyanuric acid is used as a stabilizer in outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs.
"We had one case recently where the cat's kidneys were completely obstructed and when we went to surgery to relieve the obstruction there was no normal stone, instead the ureters were completely full of these melamine-type crystals," said Dr. Louise Murray, director of medicine at New York's Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital. Had enough yet? Nope.Representatives of Perdue and Tyson Foods -- two of the largest U.S. chicken producers -- said Tuesday in letters to supermarkets that they do not use protein ingredients from China in their feeds.
Last week, FDA officials said 6,000 hogs that may have ingested tainted pet food entered the human food supply. Pork producers in seven states -- California, Kansas, North Carolina, New York, South Carolina and Utah -- are being investigated for buying adulterated feed.
The agency also reported last week that it has received more than 17,000 consumer complaints related to the recall, including reports of approximately 4,150 dog and cat pet deaths.
More than 150 brands and 5,300 pet food products have been recalled. Companies that produced affected items include Menu Foods, Hill's Pet Nutrition, P&G Pet Care, Nestle Purina PetCare, Del Monte Pet Products and Sunshine Mills have been recalled in cooperation with the FDA. The first recall was initiated March 16 by Menu Foods. Fuck. That is all.
current mood: pissed off
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
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12:22 pm - Loyalty Day, 2007
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Loyalty Day.NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2007, as Loyalty Day. I call upon the people of the United States to participate in this national observance and to display the flag of the United States on Loyalty Day as a symbol of pride in our Nation.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.
GEORGE W. BUSH
Fine, Dubya. Here's my flag.
current mood:  infuriated
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| Saturday, April 7th, 2007
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2:17 pm - My mind
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Frequently I read the diaries at Daily Kos, because I'm a progressive leftist. Sometimes my mind plays me tricks.
One diary whose title I just glanced at was called, "Help out the Dixie Chicks".
I swear, for a moment or two I thought "out" was a verb.
current mood:  mischievous
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Sunday, April 1st, 2007
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8:57 pm - Sherman, set the Wayback Machine...
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… to three weeks ago, when I was at my physician's office getting a complete workup. Turn your head and cough, finger up the butt, yadda yadda yadda. Oh, and an electrocardiograph.
My sawbones eyeballed the EKG tape, looked at me, and asked, "When did you have your heart attack?"
Say whut?
"Don't change your exercise pattern," he says. "Continue with your stringent regimen of not exercising, and walk slowly whenever you can. Get these tests done, asap. And try not to worry."
King Canute had about as much success commanding the tide not to come in.
Nine days later, off I go for a half day of cardiac ultrasound, nuclear imaging, non-stress stress test (inject with adenosine, walk slowly on a treadmill for four minutes to avoid the worst side-effects while my pulse starts to race), more imaging. Stop off at the lab a couple of days later for blood work.
Fast forward to yesterday, at my regularly scheduled follow-up.
Other than diabetes (known, trying to find the right drug mix to get control) and a tendency toward hypertension (known, well-controlled), my bloodwork was outstandingly good. No cholesterol problems, no kidney or liver problems, the only way my prostate readings could be lower would be if I didn't have one at all.
And then the kicker: I have a teensy hole in my heart.
Nobody is born with a fully formed heart. Fetuses and neonates have an open fibrous membrane between the ventricles, which soon after birth is supposed to fuse closed. In about one out of four people (including your humble correspondent), complete fusion doesn't happen. In the vast majority of these cases, the leakage between ventricles is insignificant; only rarely is it sufficiently dire as to require surgery.
That's what's going on with me. Minor hole in the heart, shows up as an irregularity in an EKG. (As I think back to my childhood, my G.P. said I had a "heart murmur" that didn't seem to affect my activity level, but which my mom inflated to the point where she made the school district exempt me from physical education classes. I was all right with that, as I was terribly body-shy to start with, and this gave me an excuse to take another academic class instead.)
So for someone with diabetes and (controlled) high blood pressure, who happens to be sixty or so pounds overweight, I'm in remarkably good health.
Dammit. Now I don't have an excuse to not go to the gym with riverheart on the weekend.
Nothing to see here, move along.
current mood:  relieved
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, March 30th, 2007
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4:54 pm - Baa!
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(Click here to post your own answers for this meme.)
| ✓ I miss somebody right now. |
✓ I don't watch much TV these days. |
✓ I own lots of books. |
| ✓ I wear glasses or contact lenses. |
× I love to play video games. |
✓ I've tried marijuana. |
| ✓ I've watched porn movies. |
× I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship. |
✓ I believe honesty is usually the best policy. |
| ✓ I curse sometimes. |
× I have changed a lot mentally over the last year. |
× I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me. |
( it goes on... )
current mood:  pensive
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