chinavet

Just got back to US....Long stressful trip, but nice to be back in the land of plenty....

I saw him with the Harlem Globetrotters as a kid. One of the best memories of my childhood.
RIP

A week of stress so rough my chest aches. Knowing they made a decison and not knowing what it is--been brutal....

Here's the deal and it is a good one: Insurance replaced my broken Mac. They gave me a 13" MacBook Pro I will sell it for a song ( a rich broadway tune, but a song ) so I can buy a more travel friendly Air. It's 8GB and has like 10 hours of use. It has a loss or damage policy that transfers with it. DM me if you have an interest.

Good New, Bad News They decided to postpone the surgery until the 29th. At that time they will also do a very sophisticated, space age bone graft procedure and extract two teeth that were the result botched root canals in China. My surgeon is incredibly nice and really thorough. He is the son of a Shaolin style Kung Fu and Kenpo* master. We know some of the same people in martial arts. Two attending professors are supervising and looking at procedures that will extend into next the middle...

Here's a cool piece of Veterans Day trivia: Looking up Gander in Google I discovered my mutt comes up second to a Hong Kong war hero ( real one) who was also a rescue dog: Gander was a Newfoundland dog posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal, the "animals' VC", in 2000 for his deeds in World War II,[1] the first such award in over 50 years.[2] HideMilitary service Gander, initially a family pet named Pal, accidentally scratched a child's face with his paw. Worried that he would be forced to...

Someone at Caribou Coffee (free coffee for Vets today) told me they heard an interview on NPR with someone who has a service dog named Gander! Did anyone hear it?

I confess: I love Veterans Day free food: Appleby's, Texas Roadhouse, Chilis...and free haircuts at Sports Clips... No doubt about the people there for the giveaways: they all look a little like Jethro in NCIS ;-)

Yesterday was the anniversary of Kristallnacht. Many Jews were killed and over 30,000 later rounded up for transport to concentration camps as thugs destroyed Jewish shops on the Night of Broken Glass. I couldn't help but draw a parallel to the campus riots after Obama's victory. We remain a racist and divided country. Martin Gilbert writes that no event in the history of German Jews between 1933 and 1945 was so widely reported as it was happening, and the accounts from the foreign journa...

Ow. Hurts but it went well. Doc says he took out a pea sized mass in my back muscle and that it looks fine. That little bugger caused a lot of pain this year. Glad it's gone. Gander was allowed to stay with the floor nurse and she and the surgical team fell for him and were all flabbergasted at how good he was while I was in the OR.

Veterans Day

I really want to take Gander to Washington and have him meet a few Congress folks in hopes of a bill to authorize the VA to provide service dogs for vets with ptsd in advance of the study that is expected to take three more years...

Midnight previews that last longer than three hours are now off limits. I've been acting anesthetized all day and surgery isn't scheduled until tomorrow. Gander keeps looking at me like I should have taught him to dial 911...

Yesterday was dialectical cinema day: Saw The Sessions and Skyfall Session is a sexy, intimate, heartbreaking and witty look at sexuality as a poet and writer unable to move ( but he can conjure an erection) uses a sexual surrogate for his first encounter. It's based on a a true story and is a laugh and cry out loud look at sex and relationships from a man who learned to make the inevitability of an early death his friend. Helen Hunt has aged ( her body hasn't ) and become one hell of an a...

Took my car into the shop then drove their loaner, a swift boat on wheels, downtown. The Chinese Consulate accepted my application. I go to pick up my visa Friday--CCP willing and the creek don't rise. Got off the tollway just as swarms of black vans starting appearing at every exit. Biden or Obama are on the move. Forward, one hopes :-)

The never ending story: Took off for the Chinese consulate at 12. I landed on the highway just in time for it to be closed for Biden's arriving motorcade. Then Obama's motorcade coming from his basketball game did me in. I was 10 minutes too late. Headed back to the consulate Tomo. Gander insists I pay him back for forcing him to ride fir 4 hours. I keep promising morning sausage but he keeps throwing me his ball. My furry child.

Hmmm Have to return to the consulate tomorrow. The new rules are strange: insurance info, work info, letter of invitation... Two young guys ahead of me got by with a fake itinerary and bogus hotel reservation but l will do it by the book... Jeez...

Headed to the Chinese Consulate in the morning. Putting in for a new visa ( old one ran out of gas)... Despite all the recent madness I would love to be there for Chinese New Year! Cross your fingers..

I remember in the middle of A Color Purple holding on to a sob during one of the many emotional moments. It slipped out a few minutes later in quieter part of the movie. The packed house laughed. It wasn't a mocking laugh. It was a collective expression of relief that they were not alone. Tonight the whole theater was united in feelings at A Late Quartet. To say it was passionate would be euphemistic. It is about love of self, love of music and the life that happens while we are making great...

I forgot I had a free ticket to Katie Perry in Mikwaukee today until I saw her on TV. Still wondering what that outfit looked like up close. Didn't leave much to the imagination on the Tube.

The last Navajo Code Talker died today at the age of 90. Rest in Peace George Smith http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2226940/This-ordinary-contribution-One-Americas-heroic-WW2-Navajo-Code-Talkers-dies-90.html

My Chinese friend texts and asks how I am and I say I'm pooped. My friends apologizes for bothering me and tells me to have a good poop and please text later.I say I'm not going to the bathroom and my friend tells me to eat more prunes. I'm losing my Chinglish, I fear..

They postponed the service dog flash mob until next week. Josh and I went anyway. The owner came up to us and said I and the dogs could stay but Josh had to leave as he had a history of rudeness. Not so. The boss was looking for a legal out to get rid of us. We left without incident. The Pub on Penn in the Capitol Hill area ain't vet or mutt friendly. Had killer pizza and watched neighborhood folks in costume come and go. Gander drew in a really nice lady in her 30's who developed seizure...

Some days with Gander are tougher than others. He draws people out so quickly the emotions you see manifest are startling. We don't go out ever without encountering someone mourning the loss of a family pet or meeting seniors who long for a companion to comfort them now that their spouse is gone. Today it was an 82 year old widow who was palpably lonely. And a elderly gentleman who once owned over 20 rescue dogs. Gander leaned and listened...

I'm in a roadside motel in Mt Vernon, Iowa. Hoping to watch TV to wind down. The *only* channel is Fox. I deserve big Karma credit for this. Goodnight everyone...