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Memorial day weekend! I may be filled with sadness, guilt, rage and oversolicitousness because of my dog’s grievous wounds, but that’s no reason you shouldn’t have some links to get you through the weekend. Just click “more”!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: May 22, 2009”
Hi, dear readers. I’m still trapped in Atlanta; the change-of-flight fee came out to $400, and it turns out that Continental doesn’t have a dog-surgery bereavement policy. Ru had his surgery today, and Amy e-mailed me this update:
Dr. Raginski said Ru came through surgery well and is just starting to wake up. There was significant damage in two deep gouges to his right back leg near the knee, which they patched up as best they could by removing a bit of tissue and stitching him up with drains. The drains will keep the wounds open a little bit so they don’t sustain more damage if there is any swelling post-surgery. Because a grey’s skin is so delicate, she said he may pop a few sutures, so we need to keep him confined in a crate for at least the next 2-3 days to make sure he doesn’t use his leg at all.
Dr. Raginski said that she doesn’t expect the worst-case scenario to happen, but I wanted to know what we might be facing: The wound may dehis (spontaneously open) if the skin doesn’t heal well or if the muscle tissue becomes infected (which would be much worse than a problem with his skin). At that point, he’d need more surgery either to restitch the skin or to take away even more tissue.
But at this point a second surgery is still up in the air. We’ll have to see how he heals after this one.
I’ll keep you all posted as I hear more about our boy. Thanks for the good thoughts you’re sending our way. :)
It looks like Ru’s going to stay at the animal hospital for another night, so they can keep an eye on him and try to keep him from noshing on his sutures. I think my dad’s going to pick him up tomorrow and take care of him till we get home.
I also received photos from my dog-walker of Rufus on the way to the animal hospital. But I looked at one of them and realized that they would only make me feel more enraged and powerless. So I’m not going to look at them till I’m home and able to pet my beloved dog.
I’m sticking with my original conference plan for this evening and taking some work-pals to the Braves game. They know Ru’s my “fur-kid” and understand both why I’m pretty distraught and why their friendship & joviality will be a good thing for me.
Because if I spend another night brooding in my hotel room (and maybe running a few more miles on a treadmill in the hotel gym), I’m gonna go crazy.
Rufus got attacked by a neighborhood dog yesterday evening. He’s having the first of two surgeries today to patch up the two gouges in his rear left leg and put in a drain. The second surgery will be in 3-4 weeks. If you’re the praying / wishful thinking / dog-reiki kind, then please send some good vibes Rufus’ way.
I’m away from home at a conference, so I’m feeling particularly helpless and frustrated. Also, I’m brimming with rage, since the neighborhood dog attacked another dog two weeks ago, but the owners continued to have faith in the electronic fence that was supposed to keep their unattended dog in its yard.
So there may not be any entertaining posts on this site for a little while.
What I’m reading: Arcadia
What I’m listening to: The soundtrack to the Life Aquatic
What I’m watching: Bottle Shock, some Yankees games, and some game 7s in the NBA semis.
What I’m drinking: An awesome Prosecco on Saturday night, to go with Bottle Shock.
What Rufus is up to: Well, he’s a little disappointed that we didn’t get out to the semi-annual greyhound picnic on Sunday, but the weather was just blech. We’ll make it up to him next weekend with some weekend guests who will lavish extra affection on him. Also: this.
Where I’m going: Atlanta today for the BIO conference! (with a dinner at Bacchanalia (not as decadent as it sounds) and a Braves game thrown in, along with a visit to my pals Joy & Miguel in Decatur)
What I’m happy about: It’s my last business flight till November! (unless I go to the show in Madrid in October)
What I’m sad about: Being away from my wife & doggie.
What I’m worried about: That I’ve landed on a planet where the political comments of a beauty pageant contestant (remember: they’re ditzy till proven smart) are grounds for a new culture war.
What I’m pondering: Whether I’ve seen enough good movies to post a Top 10 Movies of the decade list at the end of this year.
In honor of our mini-vacation to Toronto, this week’s literary 0-fer is . . . Margaret Atwood! She was born in Ottawa, but it looks like her formative years were spent in Toronto and I’ve never read a word she’s written!
And I have read some work by Robertson Davies (I think just Fifth Business
(Or just go to the slide show.)
I was not in a good frame of mind for my trip to Las Vegas last month. I’m not the sort to hang out in a bar alone, I don’t like gambling (except maybe for betting on football or midseason basketball), most of my work-related pals weren’t attending the conference I was in town for, and Tom Jones was out of town. So I was pretty much on my own, but I didn’t have anything to do and wasn’t up for “going out.”
This made me weird and depressed. It wasn’t any sort of midlife frustration; it was just this sense of being totally in the wrong place. I missed my wife & my dog terribly (her more than him).
Fortunately, no matter how uprooted I felt, I was still able to appreciate some quintessentially Vegas aspects of Vegas. When I checked into my hotel, for example, I discovered that its headline act at the wonderful Las Vegas Hilton was none other than Barry Manilow! And he had his own gift shop!
During the conference, I talked with one of my less-close work-pals (a guy who works at a company that advertises in my mag, but with whom I haven’t had too many conversations with) about my sense of “eh, so I’m in Vegas, eh.”
He was staying up at the venue where the conference was, about 20 minutes from the Strip, and didn’t have exciting plans for his stay, either. He said to me, “Don’t worry about it. What do you like doing?”
“Hmm. I like reading, watching hoops, and not dealing with people.”
“Sounds good! Is there a game on tonight?”
There was. I spent that night with the awesome game 2 of Bulls-Celtics, followed by some Plutarch and some In-N-Out burger & fries (not animal-style, alas).
At the conference the next day, I told him that I’d had a pretty good night, all things considered, and that I had even better plans for tonight! During the drive up to the resort where the conference was being held, I’d seen a billboard for the Las Vegas AAA minor league baseball team. Turned out the Area 51s had a home game that very night!
Rather than subject myself to more woe-is-me-itude in my hotel room, I drove a few miles over to Cashman field (through the wedding district (!?)), bought a $14 seat about 15-20 feet behind home plate, picked up a beer, hot dog and pretzel (and some souvenirs), and watched a ball game with some locals and out-of-towners. I had a great time, relatively inexpensively, and got a whole new perspective on the pitcher-batter duel.
I didn’t have the stereotypical exciting/bleary/regretful/drunk Vegas trip, but I did have fun in my own peculiar way. And I brought back pictures with commentary!
Hey! It’s a little photoset from our Toronto trip last weekend! (Amy has a bunch more great pix, but hasn’t processed & posted ’em yet.)
Okay. I’m sorry that I picked that one instead of one of my awesome cityscapes, but isn’t that the best name for a store? Of any kind? Ever?
Anyway, I posted some more pix to that set from the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, so you should go back and check ’em all out! Repeatedly!
What I’m reading: I read Chuck Klosterman’s Killing Yourself To Live
What I’m listening to: The Shepherd’s Dog
What I’m watching: The eh conclusion of Dollhouse, which had a couple of neat twists and turns but was never going to be able to match the impossibly well-crafted heel twist in the previous episode.
What I’m drinking: The lesser gins that they have at Lai Wah Heen, where Amy & I managed to eat 3 times in 3 days (Friday dinner, Saturday dim sum lunch, Sunday dinner after our evening plans fell through). We also had a nice wine (and fantastic meal) at Lee on Saturday night.
What Rufus is up to: Not getting into any trouble during his weekend with fellow grey, Tut! And spending lots of time at girls’ sporting events, since the family that was taking care of him has 3 daughters between 10 and 17.
Where I’m going: Atlanta next Monday for the BIO conference. My 3 nights will consist of a visit with friends in Decatur, a dinner at the awesome restaurant Bacchanalia with a client (and pal), and then the Rockies-Braves game, with more client-pals. The day before the trip, we’ll head down to Bridgewater (weather permitting) for the semi-annual greyhound picnic! In other words, don’t expect a ton of posts next week, either.
What I’m happy about: Having a nice getaway weekend with my wife. It was good to be in a city that we’d already visited and photographed; it made this visit much more about just relaxing and having some nice meals, instead of feeling like we had to get out and see the sights. Oh, and we were happy to see my cousin Andrew & his family!
What I’m sad about: That I had to tell numerous cartoonists that I either don’t know who they are or don’t know what they’ve published in the last few years. Still, most everyone seemed happy that I was willing to take their pictures for digital posterity!
What I’m worried about: Nothing I can think of, so yay!
What I’m pondering: Our next mini-vacation. We’re thinking of making the drive up to Montreal for a long weekend sometime this summer.
