Some links and other stuff

Don't you love technology sometimes? I've been having some problems posting some convenient links. So I tried again today, did the exact same thing as yesterday, and now it's working. Go figure.

So, for folks who are interested in the books I've mentioned, the Henrietta Lacks book for Canadians is here and for my American friends it's here . "Mortuary Confidential" for Canadians and for my US friends

Yeah! Another new skill. No idea why it works now, but I think I'll avoid worrying about that for now.

On a cheery note, my creatinine level is back down to my baseline. I just got some results back. Because my veins are so bad (what else is new) I've gotten permission to go for labs every 6 weeks instead of every month. It'll be a nice reprieve for a while. Other than that, everything is good.

One more link. Mike introduced me to a fantastic website. It's pretty sick sometimes though. It is billed as a "webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language." It is called xkcd and is doubly funny because when you put your cursor over the comic, you get an additional punchline. Here is one of my favorites even though it takes a bit of time to figure out the extra gag. Another really good one about parking is here

An older grand-puppy

My grandpuppies are getting older and I've just received some new photos. I think this one is the most beautiful and if I had the room, and the time and patience for a pup, and the additional time to groom him and show him, I'd snatch him up in a heartbeat. He's got Sonny's eyes and the most gorgeous eyebrows. Oh well. I can dream a little. Maybe one of these years I'll get organized enough to do everything I want. In the meantime, I'll just have to work on concentrating on my priorities. Isn't he a beaut?

If you'd like to see some older photos of the babies, then you can visit the breeders site and look under the photos section for Nora's bebes 2010. There's a photo of Sonny in the miscellaneous photo section. Sorry, but the site seems to be in french only. http://www.taiga-afghan.com/fr/index.cfm

Some good books

I've just finished "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." It's extremely interesting. I haven't been reading a lot of nonfiction lately, but this was fantastic. A huge amount of research is being done on HeLa, one of the worlds most commonly used cell lines for studies in everything from cosmetics to cancer. There are something like 300 studies per month published using HeLa cells. They originally came from this 31 year old black woman who was dying of cervical cancer (HEnrietta LAcks). Hers became one of the very first cell lines to cultured for a long period of time. This book is about her, her family, and the development of cell lines and medical research. It's fascinating, but also readable for folks who don't have a science degree. It's also wonderful that she is finally getting the recognition that she deserves. The author is Rebecca Skloot and the book is definitely worth the read. If you go to her website, she has started a foundation to raise money for the descendants of Henrietta where you can donate. The sad truth is that while HeLa is a multimillion dollar industry, there is no recompense for the descendants, who can't even afford health care. Before I read the book, I was outraged, but after reading decided that I don't think things could have gone any differently for the family.

Another book I'm reading is "Mortuary Confidential." It's stories from morticians about their industry. Some are funny, some touching, and some just sad. All in all it's not a bad read, but it was a bit flat. Many of the stories were mostly mildly entertaining, but nothing much more than that.

On the subject of books, mine is coming along slowly. I haven't done much lately, but I have worked out a number of ideas and in the next little while I'll be making some time to make some headway. I'm working hard at spending less time (wasted time really) online.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

Ok, I'll admit it. I don't like summer. Since we get both extremes of temperature here I figure that as long as I only complain about one season, I'm all right. So I choose to bitch, whine, and complain about the heat. I just don't fare that well. But on top of that I have to drag a sweater along every time I go to the mall, the hospital, the grocery store...... because the air conditioning is turned up so high.

On a cheerier note, I'll be meeting with a new writing group tonight and I'm really looking forward to it. We met during a 6 week workshop at a local college. The instructor was excellent and I think I'll take another of her courses in the fall. I bought one of her books too and really enjoyed it. Her sister, who also writes, was a guest speaker and I really liked her book as well.  http://www.nancydarryl.com/index.html

Both mutts are fine too, but also not enjoying the heat. But I am enjoying the break. Usually when I'm home I will let them in and out and in and out and...... You get the idea. Right now they are only going out about 3 or 4 times per day. Once early in the am to drain the tank, once mid-day, and then before bed. It's just too hot to be wearing a fur coat outside. Whoops, back to the  heat issue.