“Illegal in 50 states”

Just a short run-down of one of the most absolutely glorious, wall-to-wall fun days of my life — Homecoming 2008 at my alma mater, the University of Missouri.

Mizzou 58, Colorado 0

And how delightful that the win — the thrashing — the crushing — the utter and complete humiliation — came against the University of Colorado. We’ve beaten them by a combined score of 113-10 over the last two years. It just makes me happy all over.

“The Tigers abused the Buffaloes last night in ways that are illegal in 50 states and the District of Columbia,” according to Columbia Daily Tribune columnist Joe Walljasper. I marched in the Marching Mizzou Alumni Band, Carol was there to see it all and to experience what a real college football game is like — all on a warm, crystalline fall day with not a cloud in the sky. It was everything I could have ever hoped for.

Carol and me at Mizzou Homecoming 2008!

[where:600 E Stadium Blvd, Columbia, MO 65201]

A fine day at the corn maze

We had an absolutely gorgeous fall day yesterday, warm and still; I’m on (hopefully) the down side of a cold and wanted to get some fresh air with Carol, something fun but easy, so we went to the corn maze south of town. One thing this particular corn maze is known for is their pumpkin catapault:

And here are some other pictures:

Gourds: total proof that Nature has a sense of humor.

 

Carol and the gourd cache

 

 

We hardly got lost at all

 

Carol ponders the perfect pumpkin.

[where:7755 Greenstone Trail, Fort Collins, CO 80526]

Kudos to the Kewpies

Thanks to my mom for sending along this clipping from the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune, about my alma mater, Hickman High School. The full article can be found here, but in a nutshell, it’s a report about openly-gay Columbia Board of Education president Michelle Gadbois, and the historic occasion, at my former high school, of a Homecoming Queen candidate being escorted by her girlfriend to the homecoming football game, the first time a same-sex couple has been allowed to do so.

One of my first blog entries a few months ago was about my upcoming 30th high school reunion. I made a comment that on the reunion website, of all my classmates who posted their profiles, not one of them had identified themselves as gay or lesbian. Out of a graduating class of over 550, I was the only one? Right … (although since I first visited the reunion website, many more people have posted profiles and one does talk about her her female partner — you go, Cathy!). I can’t begin to untangle what this says about the times (thirty years ago and today), or whether people’s attitudes progress or not. Did my fellow gay and lesbian Class of 78 members purposefully stay away from the reunion, feeling perhaps that lingering pain of being an outsider? Or were they there, but still unwilling to “out” themselves, even after all these years? Or was it just a statistical anomaly?

But here we are anyway, these thirty years later, and Hickman, my hat’s off to you. You have done yourselves proud, and made me even prouder to be a Kewpie.

And another huzzah, to the state of Connecticut, which on this day became the third state in the Union to legalize gay marriage.

[where:1104 N Providence, Columbia, MO 65203]

Fact checking

This really steamed my trunks. I heard this little snippet from the esteemed Senator McCain during the brief moments I watched the last debate, and if you heard it too, you might be interested in “the rest of the story.” This comes from the Public Historian blog:

If you watched the presidential debate on Tuesday, you may have noticed that John McCain counted a proposed $3 million earmark for a new “overhead projector” at the Adler Planetarium as an example of his opponent’s wasteful pork.  

On the theory that all publicity is good publicity, I’m pleased to report that this has spurred some discussion about museum funding on a national level.  At the very least, it’s called national attention to the dire state of the equipment at the Adler, which is a vital location of regional and national astronomy education, where the projector hasn’t been replaced for 40 years, and, since the federal government did not approve this request, where the quality of the experience may deteriorate.

The Adler has released a statement, which I’ll quote here since it’s a pdf:

Last night, during the presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, Senator John McCain made the following statement: 

McCain: “While we were working to eliminate these pork barrel earmarks he (Senator Obama) voted for nearly $1 billion in pork barrel earmark projects. Including $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?”

To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support – which was not funded – to replace the projector in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere. The Adler’s Zeiss Mark VI projector – not an overhead projector – is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience. The Adler’s projector is nearly 40 years old and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It is only the second planetarium projector in the Adler’s 78 years of operation.

Science literacy is an urgent issue in the United States. To remain competitive and ensure national security, it is vital that we educate and inspire the next generation of explorers to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. 

Senator McCain’s statements about the Adler Planetarium’s request for federal support do not accurately reflect the museum’s legislative history or relationship with Senator Obama. The Adler has approached the Illinois Congressional delegation the last few years for federal assistance with various initiatives. These have included museum exhibitions, equipment and educational programs we offer to area schools, including the Chicago Public Schools. 

We have made requests to Senators Durbin and Obama, as well as to 6 area Congressmen from both political parties. We are grateful that all of the Members we have approached, including Senator Obama, have deemed our activities worthy of their support, and have made appropriations requests on our behalf, as they have for many worthy Illinois nonprofit organizations. 

As a result of the hard work of our bipartisan congressional delegation, the Adler has been fortunate to receive a few federal appropriations the past couple of years. 

However, the Adler has never received an earmark as a result of Senator Obama’s efforts. This is clearly evidenced by recent transparency laws implemented by the Congress, which have resulted in the names of all requesting Members being listed next to every earmark in the reports that accompany appropriations bills.

October 8, 2008

None of this comes as any surprise to my cynical and increasingly enraged mind, as people like Senator McCain and his ilk depend on an ignorant electorate to keep them in power. The LAST thing any of them are truly concerned about and invested in is providing quality education. Educated people are the ultimate threat.

Fainting spell

I finally broke down and made an appointment with the orthopedist to get my shoulder and elbow checked out. My left shoulder has been giving me fits since March, and then because that wasn’t enough fun, out of the blue my right elbow flared up in late August.

What chaps my hide is that both of these issues arrived out of the blue — no precipitating event, no injury, no “oh crap!” moment when you know you’ve done something you’re gonna regret. No, they just sort of — appeared. Showed up at the door one day and said, hi, I’ll just be moving in. And yes, I’m very bitter about it. I’m simply not ready for things to “just start hurting.”

But I’ve put off seeing a doctor, mostly because I could still ride my bike without problem, and I just don’t do certain other things that hurt. Like rotate my shoulder in a certain direction, or twist something with my right hand, or grasp, or pinch, or … okay, it was getting a little ridiculous. And it’s waking me up at night and I am totally over that.

So in this morning at 9:00 to see the ortho doc. You know me, I’ve thoroughly researched the situation, and know that I just have a bad-ass case of tennis elbow, and some sort of rotator cuff issue. Tendonitis, that’s all. Nothing structural. Just … middle-aged woman … tendonitis. I have been eating ibuprofen by the bottle and spending lots of quality time with the ice pack. Did the physical therapy and sports massage thing too. Nothing has helped. I guess I knew that there was going to be just the one last thing to try.

The Injection.

But I wasn’t thinking today. I had not made any mental preparations or brought Carol with me to hold my hand (you think I’m kidding, but I’m not). So the smiling ortho is bustling around getting her fixings ready to go while a sheen of sick sweat is beginning to break out all over me.

I have to warn you, I told her and her assistant, I’m a fainter. I can’t stand needles. I have torn, ruptured, blown, and cracked open multiple parts of my body over the years and I can tolerate a reasonably high level of pain, but I just cannot do needles.

And you sit there and tell yourself how silly you’re being, that yeah, it sucks, and it doesn’t feel great, but it’s over pretty quickly, and just don’t be such a big baby about it.

Well, the ortho says, the elbow injection isn’t nice. But the shoulder isn’t bad at all. We’ll just sit you in the chair and do it from behind and you’ll never see it and life is good.

So I’m sitting in the chair and I’m already feeling dizzy and in goes the needle and the assistant is telling me to breathe out while the needle is going in and I’m trying to, I’m trying to breathe at all, and it’s just nasty and it freakin’ hurts too. I don’t know how long it takes — who can judge time during experiences like this? — but then it’s over and I am still clammy and dizzy and it’s only getting worse.

And they’re bustling around behind me and talking about how it’s usually the big, strapping 25 year-old guys who pass out, and hospital this, and loss of consciousness that, and I know that I’m not okay. I’m putting my head down between my legs and they’re asking if I’m okay and I’m saying, My ears are ringing, and then I went down.

It was bizarre — I think my eyes were open the whole time, but I suddenly had absolutely no idea where I was or what I was doing there, and I could hear voices but they were speaking in total gibberish. It was just a wash of sensation that made no sense at all. It was like the feeling when you wake up from anesthesia after surgery — completely fractures your sense of time and place and you realize, I ain’t here.

Long story short, spent the next fifteen minutes flat on my back on the table, cold washcloths, a few strategic chocolate bars (where were the drugs, man? I just wanted some drugs, for God’s sake!) and more stories about 22 year old Marines who passed out while getting injections. Just so I wouldn’t be embarrassed. 

Needless to say, we skipped the elbow injection.

This pic is from an ortho sports website. They counsel “Do not draw up the cortisone in front of the patient. This is many patients’ worst nightmare!!” and go on to say, “Always lie the patient down - otherwise they may faint during or after the procedure.”

[where:2121 E Harmony Rd, Fort Collins, CO 80528]

My new friend Jason

I’m very, very happy to have a new friend — Jason Wolvington, my colleague at the Discovery Science Center. Jason’s the Associate Director at DSC and in the short time I’ve been working at my new job at the Fort Collins Museum, I have been just delighted to work with Jason and get to know him.

He’s young, energetic, smart, funny — he’s just great. He has huge enthusiasm for his job and lots of creative ideas for the future. I like him a lot and have already completely enjoyed working with him.

There’s just one problem.

Jason is … a Jayhawk.

There. I said it.

I went over to DSC for a meeting with him a few Fridays ago, and he was wearing a KU polo shirt. I didn’t say anything. What could I say? Then, Jason started using a Jayhawk logo as his avatar in a wiki I’ve set up for one of our projects. My little avatar icon is a tiger — not an MU tiger, but just a tiger.

The day after the Jayhawk icon showed up on the wiki, I ran into Jason over at the Museum.

Jason, I said, you know WHY my avatar is a tiger, don’t you? He was standing in the elevator, I was standing in the lobby. Suddenly his eyes got as big as platters.

Oh, no! he said. Mizzou?

Yep, I nodded.

He strode out of the elevator and threw his arms around me. That’s okay! he said. We can work through it!

Since then we’ve also discovered that we were both in our respective marching bands — Jason played the mellophone — and that he and his wife both march in their alumni band every year. Homecoming for KU is the same weekend as Mizzou’s — October 25th — and we’ll both be marching in our alumni bands!

Pretty crazy, huh?

And all well and good until November 29th, I might add. Jason even suggested that we all road trip to Arrowhead for the game. I don’t think he understands. Someone would end up walking home. And that would be a long, long walk, Mr. Jayhawk. Rock chalk.

Jason & his wife at the 2008 Orange Bowl