Muddy

Yes, I meant "Peace" not "Peach". This is what happens when I try to be serious and reflective. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're better off.

So, here's a video someone shot of one of the muddy slide parts of the Trask Mountain Assault (see two posts ago).

Thoughts on a Peace March

I'm not sure what makes me uncomfortable about walking down Highway 99 for 24 blocks with other people carrying peace signs. Still, I'm frustrated / embarrassed / ashamed to say I was uncomfortable.

We attended the interfaith peace walk this evening. This is the second time we've gone. It was held at the First Baptist Church in town (not our "home" congregation). First off there was a good speaker, then we (people from the many different churches in town) walked quietly up and down Highway 99 carrying peace signs. Many people honked (presumably) in support, but this was not a universal sentiment. One guy yelled "Bomb Iraq" over and over as he passed the column. Another driver looked straight ahead and drove by with his middle finger stuck up at us outside his window. Most just drove by, eyes fixed on the road, seemingly pretending we weren't there.

As radical public spectacles go, this all seems fairly tame. I mean, really, who argues about peace? How is this a controversial subject? No one carried any campaign signs, and I even carried a big American flag with a Peace flag (smaller) underneath. It seems Christianity's view is open and shut on this subject, as are all the major religions. Politicians (even the hawks) all voice their hope for peace. So why the self-consciousness walking down the street, why does this simple appeal inspire vitriol?

I suppose in an election year, with a very polarized electorate, that "Peace" is somehow synonymous with Democrats, or liberals. Well, it shouldn't be. The fact that this group (and our family) has been doing this for the last three years should show that candidate advancement (or any particular political cause outside of Peace) is not a motivation. But that is not readily apparent, I suppose, to someone driving by.

It seems about the only thing that one in this society can be universally passionate about without causing discomfort is allegiance to a sports team. Put team flags on your car and drive around, no one bats an eye. Invite others over to your house to spend hours discussing and cheering on your team, and you're just another sports fan. But have the same sort of passion about something of real relevance, something that directly affects people's lives (be they families suffering through the horrors of war or billions of dollars spent on futile bombs and bribes) and invite stereotyping and derision.

I tend, by nature, to avoid conflict. I'm the guy who would rather eat the wrong meal than trouble the waiter by telling them that's not what I ordered. I know that is part of my discomfort in partaking of something like this, no matter how noble the cause. I don't want to offend anyone, even those whose views I find offensive. That can't be good. But I also know that little of substance or value is accomplished by timidity, so thus my periodic ventures into regions outside of my comfort zone.

I also think such exercises are of value in learning empathy. As a wealthy American Christian white male, I don't really spend any time with people making false assumptions about me, or disdaining me because of who I am or who they perceive me to be. To spend even 30 minutes in a minimally vulnerable position, and find I've provoked a hostile shout or an obscene gesture from a passing driver, can be eye opening. I can't imagine what it must be like to have people consistently hate you because of the color of your skin, or condemn you to hell because of who you choose to love, or pity you because of a disability. I think if we all could somehow be exposed more to each others vulnerabilities, we would have much less of a need to march for Peace.

Getting Dirty 2008

Now that my oldest is in X-C (cross-country) he gets to partake in the annual Trask Moutain Run. This is an event put on by the McMinnville High School's track team as a fundraiser at a ranch about 20 miles from here. It is basically a muddy, creek-crossing, uphill / downhill dirt run. The purpose is to get completely dirty and exhausted (and raise money).

Ben and I went up the night before and camped at the ranch. (The top picture is our truck (tent) at the campsite). Many of the high school teams that participate go up and stay in the bunk-houses on the ranch the night before the race. We parked the Suburban on a big grassy area by a large creek as our "camp". There is old log resort a couple minutes walk from there where we had a great spaghetti dinner (also a fund-raiser) and after dinner lounged around on leather recliners - he reading, me watching my iPod.

We slept well in the back of the truck, and got up the next morning and had another delicious meal (breakfast) at the main lodge.

A couple hours later was the run. Ben did a 3 km run with the other 7th and 8th graders and had a great effort. I did a 5 km "open" run after that, filled mostly with high schoolers not on official track teams, but also with some of us old farts. The course had several deep mud bogs, a few creek crossings, and some uphill and downhill muddy channels that necessitated sliding down on your butt (yes, that's mud on my posterior in the photo, the bowel evacuation was a previous post) or grappling up on hands and feet holding onto shrubbery to keep from slipping backwards. Great fun.

Godspeed Little Blue Car

I'm not sure why I feel guilty driving by my old Civic on the used car lot, but I do.

Here's the little guy's official web listing:

1996 Honda Civic

I guess it'll be a useful link until the car is sold. I hope it finds an owner that is good to it.

Ok, it's a car. I'll let it go....

Ohio 9th District

My former congresswoman (when I was in Medical School).

Preach it, Marcy!!

SRT Day 3

This'll be short, because I'm tired and need to go to bed.

Today the morning involved practicing some of the techniques we'd learned, and some new instruction. To be sure we had the skills in place we placed ascenders, climbed about 10 feet, changed over to decenders while on rope and rapelled down to the ground all while blindfolded. After that we learned and practiced Munter hitches.

The main event of the day was the wild tree climb, where we could pick any tree and climb it. I picked a tall, dark, handsome but scraggly conifer near where we'd been practicing. I don't know if it had a name, but I called it Shah Rukh Kahn after Kate's favorite Bollywood star, who has those same qualities. I climbed SRK for 2 and a half hours, and he presented his share of problems, but it was a great climb (they all are).

So, it's all over, and I'm definitely a much better climber for it. I learned a lot, and am excited to keep honing my skills and getting up in more trees. I can't say enough good things about Tim, who is a great teacher and a very down-to-earth guy for someone who makes his living being off the earth.

The grove where we trained is used frequently during the tree-climbing season, so I'm hoping to come back and climb those beautiful trees, and meet some new ones.

The pictures are of "Pagoda" the Oak (taken during my SRK climb), and the three of us (Me, Dennis, and Tim) standing next to Pagoda's trunk.

SRT Day 2

Another day in the trees!

We met at 9:00 and watched a video (on computer) about assessing the safety of a tree. We then walked around the woods and looked at different trees and discussed potential hazards and such.

After that, it was up into Pagoda. Pagoda is the name of one of the two main Oak Trees that we train in. We practiced doing higher pitches. First you set your rope, and kind of slip-knot it around the branch ("anchor") then climb up the rope. Once you are up higher you take a weighted sack and some thinner line and throw the sack up to a higher anchor point in the tree. Then you take the other end of the main climbing rope (already attached to you at your belt) and pull that over the higher anchor point and affix it, and then transfer yourself over to this higher rope. Then you undo the first anchor and attach it to your belt.

In this way you can work yourself up the tree to higher and higher anchor points with the same rope, and always have an escape line to the ground.

It's a lot of procedural work, and doing things in a certain order that minimizes the risk of falling or dropping equipment, and it takes a lot of practice. That is why we were hanging from a tree for 6 hours today.

We also practiced installing 2nd anchors to use with a laynard. That allows you to walk out onto the end of branches and basically move through the tree in a horizontal, not just vertical direction.

At the end we installed tree boats (see photo above) way up high, and took a break from hanging in our saddles.

Part of the day was about the "spiritual" nature of climbing. Most (all) of the people who climb as a profession feel a real spiritual connection to the trees they climb. They will relate personalities of the trees, moods of the trees, and the like. Tim told us some amazing stories to illustrate those points. Laying in the tree boat at the end of the day I definitely felt it. You really do feel a closeness to a tree being up in the canopy, trusting it with your life, spending so much time examining it, looking at it, feeling it. Laying back in the tree boat the wind was cool, it was quiet, and the roof of the tree with all it's personality was played out above me to look at. It's part of the appeal of tree climbing. It's not just about the technical pleasure of rigging and climbing ropes, and the adrenaline part of being suspended high in the air on an 11mm thick rope, but the chance to get off the earth, and into another realm that just isn't the same when you're looking up at it as when you're in it. It's hard to explain, exactly, so I recommend you go climb a tree!

Tree Climbing NW

Tree Climbers International

Pacific Tree Climbing Institute

Speaking of the technical side of things (I was, see the paragraph above), Tim is involved in a lot of the design of tree-climbing equipment. The tree boats that we use have a new mosquito covering that is his design, and during today's climb, while we were talking he came up with an idea for a design change in the ascenders that will probably be reality very soon. I mention this only because I was there when he got the inspiration.

AND FINALLY: My reference to Carl XVI Gustof resulted in two hits to my blog from Sweden. So for all my Swedish readers: Hej!

SRT Day 1

Today was day 1 of my SRT class. SRT is "Single Rope Technique", and is a style of climbing that's used more in taller trees, and tends to have more equipment.

One other student from LA (Dennis) and I were instructed by Tim Kovar, from TCI (Tree Climbers International). The climbing world is still pretty small, especially at an instructor level, and this means that a pion like me can still be instructed by one of the most knowledgeable tree climbers in the world.

Tim (our instructor) just got back from the Amazon. He's climbed and guided everywhere. Here's a link from a Forbes Magazine article that features him prominently: Climbing the Amazon .

Dennis and I both have a fair amount of experience "on rope", so we got to move ahead a bit quickly. We started the day sitting out in a beautiful Oak Grove (with other trees as well) just south of Oregon City, on a large expanse of private property. It was a bit of dusty off-roading to get to the trees, so it was a good thing I had my Suburban. Plus, it could hold all my gear and still have room for me to stretch out an nap at lunch!

Anyway, we spent the morning going over equipment, discussing trees, and doing a lot of safety review. After that we practiced throwing lines into trees and then set our ropes. He had gear there, but let us use our own gear, also.

We practiced ascending for 10 feet or so, and then changing over to descenders of various types (Grigri's, Petzel I'D's, Piranhas). He focused a lot on placement and other pointers that you just can only get from someone who has done this as much as he has. After that, we climbed higher and practiced limb walking and refining our descent / rappel techniques.

At the end we moved over to another tree (we are climbing big Oaks) and set a line and did another climb, with him watching again. I was fairly tired at this point, and my skills completely fell apart.

All-in-all it was an excellent but very tiring day! I learned a lot!

The pictures: the top one shows the tree we mostly trained in today (I forgot her name). The trees are in open pasture, and we had to contend with cows and horses invading our site. At one point (while the other two were at lunch) I had to try to shoo away 5 horses who were messing around with my ropes and things. So, the second picture shows some of the horses at our site.

My week, alphabetized

I decided to track the "conditions" I actually billed for (meaning in patients I actually had in a room to treat) this week. This does not include phone calls, faxes, pharmacy refills, hospital meetings, staff meetings, business decisions, nursing home requests, lab reviews, study sign-offs, and "curbsides".

Items appearing more than once means more than one patient with the problem. Some patients had multiple problems treated (every diagnosis is not a separate patient, but most are).

And so, in alphabetical order:


Abdominal pain
Achilles tendon tear
ADD
Anemia
Anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety
Atrial fibrillation
Back pain
Back pain
Back pain
Back pain
Back pain
Breast reduction evaluation
Chronic back pain
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic pain
Chronic pain
Chronic wound
Chronic wound
Concussion
Concussion
Connective tissue disorder
Constipation
Coronary artery disease
Coughing up blood
Coughing up blood
Coumadin management
Coumadin management
Coumadin management
Depression
Diabetes
Diabetes, new onset
Diverticulitis
Dizziness
DOT Physical
Ear pain
Eczema
Fall
Fall
Fatigue
Fever
Fever
Foot pain
Foot pain
Ganglion cyst
Groin rash
Headache
Hip fracture
Hip fracture
Hip pain
Hypertension
Hypertension
Hypothyroidism
Incontinence, urinary
Insomnia
Insomnia
Joint swelling
Knee injury
Knee pain
Leg pain
Lipid disorder
Lips swollen
Lips tingling
Menses, 12 year old who doesn’t want to deal with them
Neuropathy, leg
Ovarian cysts
Plantar fascia tear
Pneumonia
PTSD
Rectal bleeding
Seizures, new onset
Shingles
Shoulder pain
Sinusitis
Sinusitis
Sinusitis
Skin cysts
Smoking cessation
Sports physical
Stroke
Stroke
Swallowing difficulty
Testicle “missing”
Upper respiratory infection
Upper respiratory infection
Upper respiratory infection
Visual changes, acute
Well-child 1 year old
Well-child 6 months
Well-child check 13 years old
Well-child, 7 years old
Well-child, 9 years old
Wrist abscess

Long live Carl XVI Gustaf

The title is irrelevant. He's the current King of Sweden, and I just wanted to see how many Swedish hits (if any) I could get to my blog by posting his name.

The weekend is almost over, the blogosphere is full of dire predictions for Black Monday tomorrow, so here's the latest:

• Went with Mom and Dad to see "Chicago" at the local theater (The Gallery Theater). Excellent show. I knew basically nothing about the musical, but loved the performance! It's more adult themed, but the show was spunky and lively and fun (oh, except when that girl got hanged and the guys got shot). The advertising poster leads off this post.
• Got a new set of tires for the Suburban (paid 1.5 times what I paid for the car for the tires), a trailer hitch, and some floor mats.
  
• Caught up on work at the office. They re-paved and painted the parking lot this weekend, it looks nice.

Basically the biggest "event" of the weekend was negotiating and getting the SUV, so there's not a lot else to tell. I'm still getting used to the fact that the Civic is gone, and this is my new vehicle, but it's kind of fun. I DO miss being able to park in the garage, however.

Ok, off to bed.

Oh no you didn't !

I did, actually.

Bottom line: I traded in my '96 Honda Civic for a '97 GMC Suburban. Actually, it was a trade-in + $500, but that's all. (it's pictured above)

Rationalizations:

• We can now carry 8 people. That means whole family plus two (for instance: Grandparents)
• I don't drive much (have averaged less than 6,000 miles per year for the last 12 years) so the gas costs are not that bad
  
• We can tow more (trailer, campers) with this vehicle
• I now have a vehicle that I can fit my triathlon gear, and camping gear, etc into without having to borrow Kate's.
• We can get up into the mountains in Winter, and off-road camping now because of the 4-wheel drive
• The Honda dealer wanted $960 to fix my broken electric window switches. The switches will inexplicably stop working for long periods of time. Currently, they happen to be working, so for half the cost of the repair, I get a whole new vehicle.
• The color matches our house trim perfectly (weak rationalization, I know)
• The economic and gas situation being what it is, this is probably the only time I would have been able to trade a Civic for a Suburban
• Safer in a crash due to it's size (I have a little bit of a problem with this excuse, however, since safer for me means less safe for the other vehicle)
• (Convoluted "green" argument, stick with me on this one) Since I drive relatively infrequently, and for short distances, I am making my fuel efficient car available to someone who has to drive a lot, and taking a fuel inefficient vehicle and putting it into minimal use. Ok, it's a stretch.
  
• Now we can get into the freezer in the garage without me having to pull my car out
• With HUGE untapped oil fields in the ANWR and off the coasts, and with the Republicans leading in the polls, and the altruistic oil companies who will sell all the extra oil to America, cheap, I'm sure McCain and Palin will be driving gas prices into the low $2.00 range once the McCain administration goes into action, so I wanted to stay ahead of the curve.
  

Gotcha Day Nick

Today is Nick's 4th Gotcha Day. This is the sign we found on the garage when we brought Nick home to meet the rest of the kids. 4 years of being a complete family - the time flies.

Be Afraid

.
This nation is best served by an intelligent, informed electorate. Those of us who worry that large parts of the voting public will fall for easy manipulations like playing upon fears, pandering to prejudices, and repeatedly hitting buzzwords like patriotism or "conservative values" are often labeled elitist or patronizing. The public is smarter than that.

I'd like to believe that. I need to believe that.

Then I read the Sunday Parade magazine, and see the two-page spread for Amish space-heaters. The photos show nice Amish people, renown for their craftsmanship and quality, making these heaters in their barn-raising workshops, bringing their goods to the market on the back of a horse and buggy. And I realize, this isn't satire. This heater company believes, with good reason, that they can take their mass-produced, big-city manufactured (probably overseas) space heaters and throw into their sales pitch ridiculous pictures of clearly staged Amish nonsense and people will fall for it.

But....but...it's made by the Amish!

No, it isn't.

This, THIS is why I worry about elections.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I have decided to make next week POLITICS FREE. I am so sick of listening to all the opinions, bloviations, name-calling and fact-distortions on both sides that I'm going cold-turkey for a week. No "Opinions" section of the paper. No talk radio. No on-line political news or commentary, no nothing! I think I will be a happier person for it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Today

• Took the kids to the Newby playground to.....play
• Phoned in a prescription to Bi-Mart
  
• Hung out a lot of laundry (it's good dryin' weather)
• Fell asleep on the recliner
• Got caught up on my charting
  
• Played, and lost, Uno with the kids
• Strung the philodendron in my office back up to the ceiling and out of eye-poking range
• Spent too much time on Facebook and Fark.com
• Checked on a newborn at the hospital
• Pulled the subscription postcards out of two magazines I got in the mail
• Had a Corona (while on call.....shhhhhhh)
• Picked some pears and apples from the yard
• Watched the Daily Show on Hulu (Republican Convention - Jon NAILED IT)
• Listened to the kids bicker
  

Get a life II

See "Get a life" (earlier blog) for explanation.

Perspective

Now that both political conventions are over, and we are all awash in hope and fear, terror and security, reality and hype -- it's time to step back, and get a little perspective.

Watch the video! It's not a political ad. It's 3.5 minutes long. You have that much time, and you need to listen to Carl Sagan.

Expelled intestinal contents

Entry in my India Journal, 20 years ago today. (Warning-lots of expelled intestinal contents)

Got up about 1:30 in the morning. Read/tried to sleep till 2:30. Came out to the veranda, turned on the lights and the fan, put on my mosquito repellent (effective!) and wrote in my journal till 4:01 am (the time it is now). It's been very nice out here. I'm not tired at all. India hasn't woken up yet and the sky is still starry. It's very peaceful.

Even as I write, in this early morning, the St. Olaf football team is starting their 2nd practice (it's 3:30 pm there). Wow. I've done NO physical exercising here at all. You can't jog and biking's too dangerous to try to work out. Besides, the air here is HIDEOUS. All these vehicles belching fumes. My phlegm glands have been on overdrive. YUCK! I think I'm ready to get into the country. I want rural-ness. The plan now is to climb back into bed, wait, shower and shave first. Then try to sleep till just before 8.

Got up "just before 8", quickly dressed and went down for breakfast. It wasn't ready so we waited. When we got done it was 8:35 so we headed to the bus stop to catch 4D to St. Andrews. Cara, Courtney, and Renee didn't come because they were feeling sick (foreshadowing). The bus didn't come till about 8:58 and we got to church late. Sat in front but split up because there was not enough room. The biggest memory of the service was this crow trapped inside. It'd fly around all the pillars and squawk. Pretty funny! (sort of) the service was communion and they passed the bread and wine around like an offering. Afterwards we went up to the steeple again and took many pictures.

Mai wasn't in so we walked about a mile to her hostel to visit (because she was sick). We stopped along the way for a Limca and I gave a young girl there a Minnie Mouse sticker. She was overjoyed! I love doing that, it's such a simple thing but has such great results. Mai came in and we chatted a bit, her cholera shot had made her sick. She didn't look Great. A fruit vendor came in and Mai bought us about 29 pieces of fruit (mostly sweet limes but some apples). We tried to stop her from paying but she insisted. She is INCREDIBLE. I've never met anyone so giving.

We walked to this bus stop on the side of the road, to wait for 4D. We waited and waited. It was very hot! Finally we took rickshaws. It cost 5 rupees. Came back to ICSA, checked on the sickies then I think the 6 of us went to lunch (not C and C). We went to the New Tandoor, I got bamboo shoots and vegetables, a meal which was later to haunt me. I had been super tired (no sleep last night) so I (and most everybody else) took a nap. I napped about 1 1/2 hours, then woke up and went to the bathroom. DIARRHEA, my first real, unadulterated case. When I had finished I packed up about 30 gifts, stickers, balloons, my camera, and headed out.

There's a shanty town (a hut village) across the river, so I headed there. I walked over and past the village, then I walked by it again. At the end there was a boy flying a homemade kite. I stood and watched him a bit, then this other boy came over, and we talked a little in English. Pretty soon another kid came, then the father and Grandfather. He spoke good English so we got to talking. He brought over his entire family, including some darling grandsons. I talked to them a bit, then handed out a few gifts - MOB SCENE!!! More and more kids started coming over, grabbing, grabbing, grabbing. It got a little hard to give out gifts to individuals, cause it was a sea of hands and I wasn't sure which hands I'd filled. Some older guys even came, very demanding (sort of) that I give them stuff. Balloons are most popular, but stickers weren't hurting either. I got the group together and took a (2) picture. It was hard cause the kids kept coming forward. I shook goodbye to the little grandsons (American style), they were adorable. then walked back. I stopped across on the other side and walked down to the bank to take a picture of the town. I was feeling really sick at this point so I hurried back to the ICSA and up to the room and into the bathroom and exploded (rectally). It was about 4:30, Bulliva time.

And thus began my sickness. I laid in bed, my stomach was starting to hurt big-time, and periodically made trips to the toilet for more DIARRHEA. My stomach pains spread everywhere, I really wanted to puke, and eventually I did. Most of my bamboo shoots and vegetables, hardly digested. I felt a little better after that, but certainly weak, sweaty, and exhausted. Heaving hard hurts. Back to bed for about 20 painful minutes, then heaved up the rest of my innards. I think I was cleaned out by this time. Went upstairs because I felt a little better, and I was sick of lying in pain in an empty room. Courtney had pretty much the same thing as I so I went and talked to her, Renee, and Kathy.

Renee brought tea and I had some, along with some Bisleri water. I was pretty dehydrated so I tried to drink a lot, even though my stomach was still hurting. Talked a little more, then went downstairs because my stomach was starting up again. Laid in bed, in more and more intestinal pain. Finally I felt the urge to get up. Went to the bathroom and before I had time to lean over I threw up. Most hit the toilet. I also, at the same time, lost it in my pants. So I quick sat down on the toilet and finished off another batch of diarrhea, only problem was, I wasn't through throwing up so I heaved about 4 times (large portions of water and tea) onto the floor (because I was sitting on the toilet).

When I was done expelling at both ends I felt much better. So I went and got a squeegee and the equivalent of Pine-Sol from Mohante. I threw my soiled pants in a bucket with much Surf (detergent) and sprinkled Pine-Sol and Surf on the floor, and cleaned that mess sparkling clean. Then I went upstairs to check on the girls and get some company. But first I wrote a note to Drew and Doug telling them to look out (that was before I cleaned up).

It was a pretty funny note. Upstairs I recounted what had happened to C and C, K and R, we all had a very great laugh over the whole thing. Talked for a while then I borrowed some electrolyte from Cortney. D and D also got some mineral HOH for me. I drank a teacup full of the electrolyte, slowly, and took a Lomotil. I figured I deserved it. I didn't drink anything else so I wouldn't have anything to puke, but I was very thirsty. From there on, my stomach stopped hurting as such. But I still have much body aches and weakness.

I slept off and on and wandered around in the meantime. Now it's about 3:45 in the morning, I'm writing this in the a/c room, thank God it's open. I don't think I'll do much activity-wise today. I've put down about 1/2 a bottle of mineral water over the last 5 hours. Let's hope it stays there.

Rooftop

Last year on the last non-school night before Jr. High my oldest and I slept on the roof of our clinic. Last night, in an attempt to carry on the tradition, we slept (in a tent) on the roof of the patio of our home. I say sleep in the figurative sense, since I don't do too well sleeping in a tent.

If bonding moments are stronger forged in hardship, then I suppose my near-comatose state for most of today means that this newly minted tradition should serve our father-son relationship well. Except he slept very well, and had a great time.

Well, that's good too.

Had we both been in our rooms last night, we could not have had our whispered (for whose sake we were whispering is not clear, no one was around to hear us) conversation at 3:40 this morning between sleeping fits about his recent camping experiences, as well as other stuff.

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We had a fun dinner with the Grandparents tonight, all sitting around a big table eating delicious home-cooked soup, raving about yams, and engaging in many separate and occasionally unified conversations.

Tomorrow is the first day of school.