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Baker the cat's ordeal is over! The vet removed his feeding tube today and pronounced him healthy. We don't have to give him any more medicines or anything like that. All we have to do is keep his neck collar on while his feeding tube hole heals up. We were afraid Baker was going to die on us when all of this began. If it wasn't for a group of great vets and Baker's will to live, we would have lost him. We nurtured that will to live - Mrs. Prof, especially - and now, Baker is back to his sassy self. Thank goodness.

So every post on this message board has a little bent-over butt in its lower right corner, and if you like what you see you express your approval by tapping that?

It is almost as if the label attached to a person can't be relied on to accurately define them.

Maybe it might have in the 1970s. But most government work enforces No Smoking rules now.

Baker asleep with his feeding tube visible:

I popped into my PANTARDIS to find out who ruled Denmark at the time. Turns out it was me. I arrived just before the coronation and accidentally squashed the about-to-be-King flat. Seems like nobody liked the guy that much anyway so they drafted me as a replacement. That turned into a big mess and it took me months before I could find a better replacement so I could make my escape.

Actually, we had a GREAT waterpark. What you now call the Second and Third Cataracts of The Nile were specifically designed to be white water rafting facilities. We probably would have enjoyed far more repeat customers if we also included helmets, life vests, and other safety gear with the ticket. As for the hippo rides? We tried. We REALLY tried! But the hippos simply refused to wait in long lines.

I would greatly appreciate it if those with suggestions of how to improve it attempted to implement them!

The tightness in my back is almost gone, which is nice. Another nice thing is the fact that I can once again lift my left leg more than about 4 inches off the ground. Before, I couldn't lift it onto a chair or other raised surface to help with putting on shoes, getting into a car, or drying off after a shower. This was due to pain linked to one of my spinal nerves. Now that those nerves have been ablated, I no longer feel the pain and can once again lift my leg. It's like someone hit a light switch and turned off the pain - a wonderful sensation.

Update: the burning sensation has gone, leaving only the tightness, which is fading. Problem areas remain just above my hip, with continued sensations of tightness there. The hospital called to check up on me - they said this was more or less a common reaction that I should be done with in no more than a week or two, if that long. I've been sleeping with my head on a pair of stacked pillows to keep my spine straight. Seems to be helping, since I wake up from each oxycodone-induced nap with a little bit less tightness.

It just occurred to me you forgot an important event yesterday: 2002 - The first strip of a webcomic we're all familiar with was posted.

I remember him. He was surrounded by scandals. Surely the most scandal haunted president of all time. He brought a locker room atmosphere to the Oval Office. A blemish on its reputation it may never live down. I bet he also used locker room talk, which is so unforgivable that he should have been impeached for it. Then it got worse. See? He was so unbelievably unpresidential. Surely the United States will never see a president who is more unprofessional and undisciplined than that.

Well, she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina She's a sticky-fingered filcher, from Berlin down to Belize She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China Tell me, where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Both within two days? Ouch! I hope it wasn't something bad that took out both of them, although I guess I don't even know if that would be any worse or better. May you find comfort all the happy memories the three of you shared!

I am so juvenile. I can't stop snickering at this.

Overdue update on Baker the cat: Baker has been through a lot since my last update. He's home, being fed through a tube by Mrs. Prof several times a day. He's also finally eating on his own to supplement the tube feeding. Mrs. Prof thought we were going to lose him at least once, but I reminded her of what the vet told us (especially when he found out we have pet insurance): Don't Give Up. Sure enough, Baker pulled through on the night in question and has improved steadily. He's now off his pain medication and back to climbing his cat exercise tree. The vet did blood work at yesterday's follow-up appointment and was very happy with what she saw. Baker's white blood cell count is getting back to normal, as are his BUN numbers. Other numbers are still slightly out of whack, forcing him to remain on some medications (ursodiol, for one). He's also going to get a booster dose of appetite stimulant. He'll be back in the vet in a week to have his abdominal stitches removed, then again a few weeks after that to have his feeding tube removed. All in all, we're not out of the woods yet, but we can at least see the highway from where we're standing. Attached picture is of Baker (feeding tube not visible) with Mrs. Prof in the background.

Transferring the current data (including the stuff suggested here and possibly some more suggested over on the Discord) from Dia into GraphViz allowed me to make use of its layout engines, rather than trying to lay it out myself. So, here's circo:

Croquet mallets are all wood. Golf clubs are a mix of wood and iron. On the other hand, in Croquet there are times you can knock your opponent's ball off the playing field. In Golf, you need to wait for your opponent to drive his own ball into the rough. My opponents don't need to wait very long for that...

Fucking polar vortex. And those anti-science morons claim that this is proof there is no global warming. On a related note, I just ate, so world hunger is over.

Note: overall, we're both glad we have very good pet insurance. Mrs. Prof took the prudent step to call and confirm Baker's coverage this morning. The agent on the phone said we are covered, thankfully. There's a $250 deductible, then everything is covered at 90%. We're already approaching (if not exceeding) $5,000 in real world charges for Baker, so this takes the sting out of that and makes decisions about his care much easier. We haven't had to say no to a procedure yet.

Eek! My heartfelt sympathies. My Pippin got into dark chocolate twice, xylitol gum once, and oatmeal raisin cookies once. Oh, and an entire pound of turkey once, and this was the dog with the shunt on a low-protein diet. A vet I know, her newly adopted dog ran out the front door and got hit by a car right in front of her. It can happen to anyone! The important thing is that she took good care of him and is taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. Pancreases are funny things, sometimes they go through bad stuff directly and are fine, sometimes you just look at them funny during surgery and they get inflamed. The section of gut where the pancreas is may have gotten folded up and pinched the wrong way, or they may have needed to make an incision in a place they couldn't help but handle it. I'm glad he's at a place he can get such good care, with ultrasound and 24-hour staff and all that. I'll be sending good wishes his way in hopes it's not too bad and he recovers soon!

I'm having a back procedure done today (radio ablation of the spinal nerves, L2-S5, left side) to help alleviate my chronic, severe back pain. I'll be in the hospital at about 8:00 a.m. CST and for a few hours afterward, if things go well. I'm hoping for no adverse side effects from this procedure, because there is at least one (a nasty, prolonged burning sensation of the affected area) that I definitely do not want. Please wish me health and luck through the procedure - I need all of both that I can get.

The only Chicago-area con I'm at all familiar with is Windycon, which I happened entirely coincidentally to be in town for in 1989 or 1990. I was there for a two-week training program on some new software my employer was buying, and the convention was on the intervening weekend; I found out about it late Saturday evening. The fun thing was, Mercedes Lackey recognized me in the hall and answered a silly question I had asked her at Norwescon. That being one of two times I spent even a full day in the Chicago area. The other was in the fall of 1977 around Thanksgiving; for various reasons I can pin that one down precisely.

More like writing Tomb Raider fanfiction, but inserting people she knows as the main characters. And LOT of transformations, obviously. And herself as immortal. Still doesn't mean it's not happening in some parallel universe. After all, Dan is Sarah's character.

Rabbits are apparently making a play for taking over the Cats' domain and the Cats have no clue what to make of it.

Second! Are there any objections? Will the chair allow this motion to pass through acclamation?

Sunday was the second anniversary of my father's death. I was able to go home for the weekend to visit my mom, and we did stop by the columberia where his ashes are, but it wasn't the focus of the visit. I wasn't really sure if my mom would remember what day it was, as it was usually my dad who was best at remembering that sort of thing, but she did too. We talked a bit about their travels together, as well as family trips taken with all four of us. So, sad, but not in a bad way, if that makes sense to you.

Seconded.

There's a TV show (also lots of episodes available on YouTube) called "Prehistoric Fossil Breeding". I'm pretty sure that "fossil" precludes "breeding".

Even without this, I'd have assumed it was Rick Astley, just because of the vagueness involved.

A note on why Japan was so fanatically anti-Christian in those days: Under Shinto (the Japanese state religion up until WWII), the legitimacy of the Emperor (and the Imperial bloodline) to rule was based on the assumption that the Imperial Family were blood descendants of Amaterasu, the Shinto solar goddess. Thus, any religion that would call the Shinto gods false gods is directly undermining the legitimacy of the royal family (and by implication, anybody in government who is appointed by the royals).

Oh right! The ones in croquet are called stoquey woquets. My bad.

Especially when they are based on inaccurate and/or outdated information.

You know, I actually wanted to use the laughing emote for my reaction, but I think it's more humorous like this.

Mrs. Prof and I were finally able to leave the house together yesterday to do some grocery shopping, without fear for Baker's life. This Sunday, we'll be going to a Super Bowl watch party. That's how significant his progress has been. He has come back literally from the brink of death to being a normal cat with the run of the house. He still hasn't returned to his full, boisterous self who bounced off the walls twice a day - I doubt if he'll ever return to that level of activity - but he's acting more like himself now than he has at any point since ingesting the sewing thread. We still have him at the front of our thoughts (or, at least I do (Mrs. Prof most likely does as well)). I worry about him not having anything blocking access to his surgical scar during the day (Mrs. Prof's idea). However, the vet said she was more concerned about him doing "excess grooming" of the scar, and he certainly hasn't done that. Maybe I worry too much. I don't know. Maybe I've just missed one dose too many of my antidepressant. Still, Baker continues to improve without back-tracking, and that's what counts, despite my worries.

Anyway they couldn't. In a fit of overconfidence Hitler played on Hardcore mode.

I was mostly commenting that sexual preference and gender identity aren't necessarily tied to each other, since there are examples that don't appear like they are tied to each other but. Like in Sam's case, because he likes girls he originally thought he must be a lesbian, but being trans male would make him heterosexual, Tedd on the other had still has a strong peference (not 100% mind you) for girls regardless of what gender he feels most like at a given moment. Basically, it boils down to just because you're gay, doesn't mean you're trans, and just because you're trans, doesn't mean you're gay

I seem to remember once reading that one reason Mrs. Kitsune resents her sister is that she left her husband and child. I suspect she feels very protective of her nephew even as she is being standoffish to her brother-in-law. ... yeah. It makes more sense if she wanted to distance Nanase not from Tedd but from Edward Verres specifically. (Although I'm not sure if this is canon or reader speculation. There doesn't seem to be any details here.)

Lack of communication leads to assumptions. If his parents never talked about LGBT subjects, there's nothing for Sam to gauge how they might react to him coming out, that can be just as fearful as hearing them say negative things about the subject. And if they did talk about it. Even something like "those poor people, I'm glad we don't have to deal with any of that" wouldn't necessarily be transphobic but now Sam's got the idea that if his parents knew, he'd be putting them in emotional distress over his safety.

This strip and thread got me thinking about Grace's cover story... On the one hand, it would be easier to remember and give people a better understanding of Grace if the cover story was as close to the truth as possible without breaking the masqurade (I'm not sure how you'd deal with the childhood in a lab part, but the "raised by an abusive kidnapper" part works fine if you leave out his powers and plans for world domination). On the other hand, it wouldn't really be fair to expect Grace to tell everyone she was abused, and I'm glad Mr. Verres didn't ask that of her.

But hips don't lie!

Don't bother hiding your face, Grace. I graduated High School in 1985, and the most recent time I was embarrassed by something I did in High School was 03:30 AM today. It does not get easier.

I think it has to do with Edward having prevented so many apocalyptic scenarios that the government pretty much owes him, it's revealed recently by Arthur as the reason he allowed the fake Cheerleadra sighting. I think if Edward asked for pineapple on pizza*, no one would question it. *pineapple on pizza is delicious. I'll fight you if you disagree

I've run out of milk so I'm drinking my "no milk in the house" hot teas, alternating between Earl Grey and gunpowder green. They are both nice change of pace from my normal milky black teas.

Baker is home. His first act was to try and run under the sofa. Twice. He's since been isolated in a prepared bedroom, where he's spotted all of the areas that we didn't prepare properly and tried to get out through them or hide in them. The cat is well and truly freaked. The only solution was for Mrs. Prof to go back and sleep with him on the guest bed. Baker is, after all, her cat, based upon how much time he spends with her and how much she spoils him. (Loudmouth would be considered my cat by those same benchmarks.) When I last checked, Baker was curled up against the wall on the mattress, and Mrs. Prof was curled around him, with her nightly accoutrements close at hand. Baker was no longer trying to get away. This is going to be a very long, very tedious, and very trying time for all of us. Please wish us (including Baker) luck so that we can make it through the ordeal.

I know that feel. When I'm writing characters, I sorta "rp" it out and sometimes the connections hit you like a ton of bricks and you start reacting physically before you can reel it in.

Medical Update of the Day: Cramps suck. Thank you, modern medicine, for the variety of analgesics available today! If only they took effect instantly instead of taking up to an hour. Still, bless them and their inventors. That is all.