Tryptophantastic

Another Turkey Day has gobbled and went. Along with it, four glorious days of R&R. Amazing how long that has come to feel for me. Even though Sydney claims it flew by, it felt like a marathon through molasses...in a very good way.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Michelles and the Lyons and their respective kin. This is the second year in a row we've enjoyed their holiday company, and it's proving to be a nice substitute for family and a more eventful alternative to just the four of us. The kids all get along extremely well, most of them having ties that go back to preschool. Lori and I enjoy the grownup time and the fact that there are three more days of nothingness to follow.

We rarely succumb to the pressure to go shopping during the much-hyped weekend. Lori generally has her shopping done by September and I prefer to wait until December 21st or 22nd to set a date. :) Rather, we elected to take it easy this go-round, rollercoastering our dance card a bit...Thanksgiving on Thursday, do nothing on Friday, go to the movies on Saturday, vegetate today. Ahhhh. Saw Happy Feet on Saturday. Was cute. Better than I expected. I give it "Two Eyelids Up."

While I'm staring down a pretty crazy week this week, December is nicely metered in bite-sized chunks. We have our Christmas Party on December 8, our trip to AZ the following weekend, and then our Disneyland/Lori B-Day/X-Mas extravaganza wrapping up 2006. Two 3-day weekends to close out the year, too.

We broke out the Christmas decorations this weekend (no tree yet) and listened to Christmas music for a few days. Getting an early start. Let me recommend this Internet station for your holiday enjoyment.

'Tis the season!

Emelie waxes feline

Some school projects are worthy of sharing. The following two-page journal entry came home with Emelie earlier this week. The way she spells words phonetically along with her bizarre yet innocent thought process brings nothing but smiles around here. Captured for you here in its original form. Enjoy. :)

Taking historic license

Over the past few weeks, I've read two books and seen one movie that each create alternate realities for prominent figures in recent history. Three Days to Never (about Einstein's secret time machine), The Darwin Conspiracies (guess who that deals with) and, this weekend, we saw The Prestige (in which the mysterious Nikola Tesla plays a pivotal role).

It's funny how figures of prominence and accomplishment are the subjects of fascination, derision and, ultimately, recreation. The works mentioned above are pure works of fiction and don't claim to be historical observations, but the want to use influential figures to propel a story is intriguing to me. Weave a tale of fiction with John Smith as the hero and you've got your work cut out for you. Employ Einstein (even just his brain) or Edison or Shakespeare or Jesus and our imaginations are captivated.

But then, as with the DaVinci Code, lines of reality and fiction can become blurred as the gravitational pull of those historical personas begin to bend their own time and space. We're left wondering, "Did that really happen?" or "I wonder if that's true." Not that that questioning is inherently bad, mind you. But underlying it all is my much-discussed insufficient storage device called the human memory. As the lives of important figures begin to fade from public consciousness, time and carnivorous speculation begin eating away at the truth, leaving behind the carrion of enigma. Rumor gorges upon reality.

Fiction is quintessential to the human experience. With our evolutionary breakthrough of reason came our instinct to bullshit. Or embellish purposefully in order to feint truth to our own ends. Storytelling can certainly entertain, but it's power to persuade and deceive is equally compelling.

Where fiction merges with history lies a treacherous crossroads. I see us standing on a new path, though. A pivotal junction revealed by the Web. Rather than relying upon the colored editorial of broadcast media or the agenda-hamstrung curricula of public education, we are on the brink of access to raw history. As bandwidth continues to proliferate and become as commoditized as electricity, we're all going to see the impact of omnipresent access to information, unfiltered and (hopefully) unbiased.

There will certainly be challenges to our faith in this defiant new exchange. Will we be able to trust in a decentralized feed of information? Have we too long been conditioned to believe only in interpreted data from networks or governments or churches? Will millions of unregulated channels of information only further fragment our beliefs, splintering us into an even greater number of isolated niche camps?

Will we be able to trust our own eyes? There will certainly be forces at work that will undermine our nascent faith, using technology to edit "live feeds" with digital sleight of hand, forcing us to question whether even seeing is believing.

The topic fascinates me. And even though I'm going to pull over to the nearest shore along this unexpected stream of consciousness, I have to think that all of us that will be drawn into this new media maelstrom within the next fifteen years will be called to a challenge. The Right despise the media. The Left can't tolerate the government. But in the middle, will we be able to live with ourselves?

Hello, Hello (Hola!) I'm at a place called Vertigo

When I was about 15, I startled awake one crazy night to a spinning room. Peering across at the wall opposing my bed, my bookshelf was whirring from right to left at what seemed like 100 miles per hour. I couldn't focus on it or make it stop. A little unsettling, needless to say. I crawled from my bed on my hands and knees to my mother's bedroom, unable to stand, and asked for her help.

We were able to control the spinning by having me lie in a certain position. Putting a hot facial mask on seemed to help, too...depressurizing my sinuses, was mom's insightful remedy.

After a long night, we went to see a doctor. The theory was that I was suffering from some sort of inner ear dysfunction on the heels of a major flu I had a number of weeks prior. I remember them performing a test where I stood with my back parallel to a wall, a doctor in front of me, a nurse to one side and mom to the other. I closed my eyes, titled my head a bit, and proceeded to weeble-wobble in every which direction. Good theater, I'm sure. I don't recall if I took medicine, but I know I had some after effects for about a week or two until it finally dissipated.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is what they diagnosed it as.

So, fast forward two decades. I've now had two distinct episodes of vertigo in the past two or three months. And by episodes, I mean periods of time. I had a bout endure for nearly 4 weeks 2 months ago, and I'm on day 7 of my newest one now.

They mostly present in the morning when I wake up and roll to whack the alarm clock. I'm alerted by a definite spinning sensation. On one weekend, I rolled over to Lori in the middle of a spin and made her look at my eyes. They were whirling from side to side. I imagine I look like one of those Felix the Cat clocks where the huge eyes oscillate back and forth, synchronized to the second hand.

Lori looked up some Web research and, like the article linked above suggests, this type of vertigo seems harmless enough. We found one article that recommends a type of exercise to effectively shake the crap out of your inner ear. You lie on a bed on your back with your head hanging over the edge at a 45-degree angle. You lay there for a bit. If that doesn't already set you to spin, you then roll slowly to either shoulder, letting your head continue to arch over the end of the bed. Invariably, usually on one side or both, the spins take off and I clutch the bed reflexively like a bad falling dream. Kind of disturbing.

Yesterday, while in a brainstorming session (ironic, huh?), I leaned my head back either laughing or thinking, and brought on one of the more serious spins I've had in recent memory. It lasted a good 15 or 20 seconds as opposed to the usual 5 or 6 seconds. Long enough that I got a little panicky.

So, I'm a little creeped out. Looking back, I clearly have some peripheral vision issues, I think. Getting off a treadmill gives me the sensation of walking slowly while the rest of the gym whirs by. I think most people have that, though. A few years back, when driving to San Diego frequently during the summer, I would get a tunneling kind of sensation when on the freeway. It's hard to explain, but it's akin to that overused horror movie effect when the heroine is staring at the camera like a deer in the headlights while the surrounding hallway pulls back to a distant vantage point behind her. That recurred for a few months, but I haven't experienced that since.

I admittedly have been nursing a little bit of junk in my sinuses. A few months back when I had my four-week run-in, I was having some significant snot issues. In fact, I experimented taking sinus medication to try and see if there was some pressure affecting my inner ear, and it had moderate, if not intermittent, benefit.

Maybe I stare at computer screens too much now. Maybe my astigmatism is playing tricks on my eyes, literally. I did get new glasses a month or so ago, so my prescription should be accurate. Just a little worrisome, so I thought I'd document this if my symptoms persist.

I know everyone tells me I need to find balance in my life, but I didn't think they meant it quite like this.

Big brother birthday blog

Happy Birthday to my brother. Too bad your happy day needs to be senselessly defiled by the vision of Nancy Pelosi sneering her way to power, but we courageously move forward.

Could it really be thirteen years that have passed since Karl's bachelor party? Wasn't that the night that I drunkenly proclaimed "Hey everybody, my brother is 30!"? An exclamation that met with sharp looks of disdain from you and a later admission that you 'wanted to punch me for saying that'?

Ahh...30...those were the good old days, huh? Don't I know it. :)

Love to mi hermano. Wish I could be with you to say it in person. Until I see you next, please accept your little brother's sincerest gratitude for being around another year.

Ghosts of Halloweens past

Another Halloween has come and gone. Since my blogging has apparently become as invisible as the season's fabled apparations, I thought I'd drop a note to say "boo." The girls had a fun holiday this year...Syd as a fairy and Em as a kitty. We actually dressed up at work this year, too...a first in the storied history of BP. Good time for the staff.

Then, after Halloween, the real specters came out...a reunion of relatives rarely seen by the human eye. :) Thanks to Dad, Natalie, Aunt Mona, cousin Nancy and all associated offspring and relations that mingled this past week. It's always interesting to revisit the past and make new memories. I felt both younger and older this weekend, seeing people I haven't seen for five years and twenty-five years, in some cases. If my sense of time wasn't distorted enough, it certainly was knocked off axis a bit more.

But it's all good. There are still roots there to be unearthed and nurtured.

Now, back into November and the always-startling disbelief that the holidays are upon us.

I swear to God it was just Christmas!!! **handing you a nickel**