Intellectual Diversion for the Troubled Mind

I got some disturbing news on my health this week. So while I'm processing the news and waiting for more information, I'm going to indulge in an old human tradition of ignoring the elephant in the living room and focusing on something entirely irrelevant.

Human beings with wings.

No, really.

(When I have something more definitive, I'll let you all know. The good news is I do NOT have AIDS or any known form of hepatitis. More when I know it, okay?)

So, anyway . . . .

I have this small collection of human figures with wings on the wall of my bedroom which has grown over the years. As a psychiatric nurse I tend to skew towards a grounding with a Jungian bent. (For those who don't know, Carl Jung was one of Sigmund Freud's first adherents and greatest advocates. Freud and Jung differed, however, on the idea that all humanity is connected by a vast "colllective unconcious" through which we all share ideas, dreams, and universal representations, called "iconic themes.")

One of the most common "iconic themes" is the dream of flying, which Jung said represented the idea or desire for escape, for freedom. Almost everyone in all cultures has at one time dreamed of flight or flying, and almost all cutures have art forms representing this icon.

This statue above is of the bride of the Egyptian sun-god Ra. She has wings to carry Ra through the heavens and traverse their kingdom. (Ra is that nifty little golden circle on her head surrounded by the bulls' horns.) While not the earliest artistic representation of a human with wings, it's the earliest I could find to purchase for my collection

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A representation of the Egyptian Hawk-god Horus, via DC Comics. Their character "Northwind" is a member of a race of bird-people associated with Hawkman. (By-the-bye, he really does have a head like a hawks' -- making polite conversation problematic at best.)


The classic judeo/christian/muslim representation of an angelic figure (i.e., "Angels".). Although scripture refers to angels as being masculine with male names (Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer, etc.) most modern representations are shown as female.


An early American folk art version of the traditional angel figure is also seen here. Note the finer detail available through painting versus the next figure, which was whittled.




A very primitive version of the angel motif is seen here, whittled from hardwood and colored with basic white and red. No detail is seen due to the primitiveness of the media. Such representations were common on the American frontier and are still found in third world countries today. This particular version has wire wings which are difficult to see against the darker background.


A modern ceramic representation of an angel, which almost always deals in colors of whites and pastels. This angel was sold during Easter season, so the reddish/maroon cloth is symbolic of Christ's blood being shed for mankind.


This modern concrete copy is of a medieval grotesque from a Parisian building. The cherub (second cousin to an angel) sits on top of the building warding off evil spirits. (A "grotesque" differs from a gargoyle in that gargoyles are waterspouts, while grotesques are statuary.)


This clay figurine of modern Mexican design showing a handless angel figurine. (The figure lost his hands due to the fragility of the clay medium; the hands loss was not intentional nor meant to signify anything.) The fine detail shows the feathered texture of the wings which are distinctly bird-like.


This is a traditional example of meso-american clay figurine art. The figure depicted is of a Peruvian Andes piper boy playing a pan flute. Whether the wings were present before the influence of Spanish Christian missionaries is debatable, but interesting nonetheless. The feathers are also those of an eagle, which is a native american symbol of power, strenght, and authority.


This is a representation (again via comic books, of course) of a Norse Valkyrie. As the Guardians of the Dead and Valhalla (the Norse version of the Afterlife), the are alternately shown as either winged or riding winged horses. Go figure. Either way, the wings as an analogy of supernatural swiftness works.

Here is an early Victorian sculpture of a fairy. While the ideas of fairies (which have wings) and pixies (which do not) predate Victorian England even to druid times, they enjoyed a brief resurgence of popularity during the late 1880's in England with the advent of the camera, as many citizens of the crown attempted to photograph these proto-humanoid forms. While fairies have humanoid figures, they are smaller than humans and often have insects wings (this young lady has a butterfly's or bees' wings.)


A more traditional representation of the pixie is shown here, with her garlands and belts of vines and dress made of petals. Her wings are more pointed and insectoid than most other representations of fairies, which almost always use more rounded wings.


The post-modern era fairy starts and (pretty much) ends with the world's most famous fairy, Tinkerbell (Clochette to my European relatives.) Seen here as a McDonald's give-away from a few years ago locked in Captain Hook's lantern, she glows in the dark, imparting a warm glow to our bedroom nightly.


Moving rapidly into the modern era, winged human forms are very much evident in both animation as well as graphic sequential literature forms, such as comic books. And in Europe, everybody loves a Smurf (thats Stroumpghs to my European relatives), and apparently Smurfs/Stroumpghs are fond of lighting out into the wild blue yonder as well. That we don't see many Smurfs flitting past our windows in probably a testament to the vicousness of the local purple martin population, I would guess. (Poor Smurfs!)


This one's the "Angel" character from Marvel comics' X-Men franchise. Although not seen in the first two movies, I have it on good authority he'll be in the third movie for sure. That should be quite a sight for the CGI guys to have nervous breakdowns working on.


Marvel comics also publishes a character called "The Falcon", a former partner/sidekick to Captain America who has these nifty little glider wings with which to fight crime. Not exactly wings per se, but still a form of winged human figure.

This is the "Hawkman" character currently published by DC Comics. Hawkman believes himself to be the reincarnation of an Egyptian pharaoh and wears wings and a mask mimicking Horus, the Hawk-god. (And flies, of course.)


This is a "ringer"; actually a second version of the Hawkman character as he first appeared in DC Comics in 1940. I just include him to show off the look; and to wonder aloud how he ever fought crime with pastel blue wings. (Perhaps the criminals laughed until they got stitches in their sides and were incapacitated?)


If you have kids that watch Cartoon Network or just love comics, you'll recognize the "Hawkgirl" character from Justice League Unlimited, currently seen there weekends. In the comics Hawkgirl is the paramour of Hawkman, and the deadlier of the species, certainly.


This is one of the characters from Kevin Smith's "Clerks" universe, who (I'm told) appeared in the movie "Dogma". He's a tough little nut; and representative of the disdain in which modern angels are held. And, yes, that's blood on his breastplate.


And finally, we come to Sparky the Dog; who, for some reason, has wings on this button. (Sparky is a cartoon character published by Pam Bliss of Valparaiso IN.)

And that is pretty much my collection, such as it is. I have my eye on a replica Mesopotamian piece I saw in the mall a month ago, and continue to search for a figure of Icarus and/or Daedalus. Yet strangely absent from my collection (and not for want of searching) are any kind of figures representing Africa or Asia. Apparently Africa and Asia (and possibly Australian aborigines as well) have no mythos of flying men. China is replete with legends of flying dragons, but no human flying forms.

Or maybe I just haven't looked hard enough. Anyway, now you know what to get me for Christmas.

~~~JD~~~

In Texas even the DOGS drive pickup Trucks . . .

In Texas, apparently Beagles can drive. How he gets those little stubby legs down to the pedals is a mystery to me. I laughed so hard when I saw this little guy toodling northbound on U.S. 281 I almost didn't get the picture. (He sure looks like he's having a ball, doesn't he?)


Had a small nightmare of a bureacratic tussle happen this afternoon. Julian has been getting nasty automated e-mails from the Northeast Independant School District (NEISD) reminding him he needed a new tetanus shot, so I picked him up from a school meeting and we went to the "Express Med" clinic at the main University Hospital branch. (Ariane works at Uiversity Hospital, so we have Insurance through them.) We signed in the clinic just after 12pm and waited.

After 40 minutes of being ignored by the three (3!) receptionists behind the desk -- apparently their cellphones and hospital gossip were more important than the patients -- a male nurse came out and told us that Julian needed the "TDP" vaccine, and that they didn't have it at that clinic. Now, as a nurse who has previously worked in an Immunizations clinic, I knew that the TDP vaccine (which protects against Tetanus, Diptheria, and Pertussis -- or whooping cough -- thus the acronym TDP) is for children under 12 years old, which I mentioned to him. He clarified this with the doctor, who insisted there was a new vaccine for adolescents that their clinic did not have, so we would have to go to the Downtown Clinic.

So off we went to the Downtown Clinic, known as "Brady Green". Brady Green is about the same age as my hometown hospital, Porter Memorial, and reminds me a lot of the 1960's version of Porter Memorial, so I usually enjoy a chance to go there. So we signed in about 1pm and waited.

And waited. And read the paper. Then we palyed computer solitaire on my Palm Pilot.

Then, -- we waited some more.

About 3:30pm -- 2-and-a-half hours later -- the receptionist (whose name was Esmerelda Zapatas) informed us that we had signed in on the wrong sheet -- so we would have to go to the Pediatric Waiting Room now. Mind you, there's been NOBODY at the desk of this clinic to direct us when we arrived or since -- and she's getting all bent out of shape with us because somebody knocked over the signs at the desk. So we sat down in the Pediatric Waiting area and began a game of musical chairs lasting another hour. First we had to do the paperwork to get Julian into the system. Then she called us back to explain that we were in "the wrong type of clinic." Apparently University Hospital has Free Clinics for the indigent (where we were currently) and other clinics for the employees -- so our Insurance wouldn't work here --and we would have to pay for his immunization! In a "Free Clinic."

Note to my family and friends: this is the point where I stopped speaking to this nut-job for fear I would raise my voice and call her a naughty name. So you can imagine how pissed I was by now.

Then there were subsequent trips about every five minutes to (a) sign a paper to have our $15.00 co-pay deducted from Ariane's paycheck -- (b) another to assume financial liability if our insurance wouldn't pay, and (c) finally to tell us they didn't actually have the vaccine Julian needed. All the while she's going on and on in acronyms and jargon that I wouldn't have understood if I hadn't worked at University Hospital myself for a year and been a nurse -- and I'm wondering how frustrated the poor schmucks who walk in off the street must be listening to this whine-bag make excuses and baffle them with b.s.

At this point I can physically taste the bile in my throat -- and the urge to strangle Ms. Esmerelda is becoming ever more difficult to override.

At this point a lovely older nurse named Dolores Nolan came out and took Julian back to give him the Tetanus shot. She had heard there was "an immunization needed doing" and took care of us quickly and efficiently. She explaine that there was, indeed, a new "Adolescent Tetanus Shot (called the "TDaP") which is why the doctor at the first clinic was confused -- but that the Health System has not actually RECEIVED the vaccine yet. She updated our shot records, gave us a copy of the Immunization form they send to the Health Department, and gave us a new shot record they use down here in South Texas.

A real gem, that Dolores. I'm writing a letter to the CEO of University Hospital demanding she get a raise.



So, to celebrate our freedom Julian and I had Dinner at P.F. Chang's chinese restaurant (I had the calamari and fried rice -- Julian had the lettuce wraps and corn fill), and we went to see the movie Elizabethtown with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. It's funny, uplifting, and romantic -- but not your average chick-flick. At times it was laugh-out-loud funny as the foibles of family, dating, courtship, and facing your own mortality plays out in rapid succession on the screen. But it also has lots of moments guys will appreciate -- like Orlando Bloom's hilarious encounter with a drunken, over-the-top groom whilst he's trying to steal the groom's beer from a drunken per-wedding party. (The slogan "24/7" takes on new meaning after seeing theis bizarre wedding party at the Brown Hotel in Elizabethtown, which backdrops the Dunst/Bloom romance.) I went to see it because Kirsten Dunst is a babe and the plot looked good -- but this movie is so good it made even me like the much-hated Susan Sarandon.

Great movie. Very much recommended -- you should most definitely see it if you get the chance. In fact, make the time for it.

~~JD~~~

Saturday Musings and Fifteenth Birthdays

Julian turned fifteen years old Thursday, which was a great surprise to me. I'm astonished his mother or I didn't kill him long before this.

He actually had a surprise or two for his birthday this year. He wanted a figurine of the Starfire character from the Teen Titans, but the one he wanted was a $250.00 maquette statue that was a bit pricey after his Sony MP3 Player he received a week early.
(You can see the product description by clicking on the title of this post above.) He also loves to eat out and was fairly certain we'd do it again for his birthday, but his mother was determined to surprise him, saying "We are NOT going to go out for dinner this year!"

So his mother and I both arranged to be off on Thursday and after dropping him at school, we cleaned the house and went to Target (for a folding Papa-San chair for his room, a new hassock, and a wooden wall shelf), Wal-Mart (for new bed linens and decorations), Bob's Comics (for a smaller, less expensive paperweight version of Starfire), and a Chinese Restaurant for his favorite Take-Out. We cleaned his room thoroughly (no small task -- how the HECK did he get it so dirty since moving in 2 months ago???) and redecorated it with his new linens, chair, hassock, and Starfire prominently displayed on her new oak shelf on the wall. We also put Halloween lights up on the windows and had them all plugged in, ready to go when he came home.


The bed linens are particularly nice, made from a fabric called "Microfiber" that looks like suede, feels like silk, and is machine washable -- very nice and luxurious -- not to mention affordable.


His first words when he sat on the bed were "I feel like a Millionaire!" So, it was worth it, I guess. (Heh.) Well, he did make First Chair in Orchestra with his violin, so I expect he deserved some reward for the hard work.


Some small changes to the 'blog: I've added two links to the massive amount of Internet Debris on my 'blog. The First is "The Radio Equalizer" a blog on the server I post with also -- by Brian Maloney, a radio host out of Michigan, I believe. Brian is also one of the insiders in the radio industry and has some fascinating stories of the crap going on behind-the-scenes at various and sundry places, like Air America and the hardball tactics being used by ABC Radio Corporate with their local hosts. (Those of you from the Chicago area might remember how Garry Meier was forced off the air at WLS-AM through these same tactics two years ago while being half of the top-rated duo on Afternoon Drive in Chicago. Well, same stuff, different day -- just in San Francisco this time.) Fascinating and intelligent reading.

The second new link is "Protest Warriors.com," which teaches budding neo-conservatives how to use the Left's own tacticts against them. They cite using the ACLU's own website as a reference point for information (Love It!), how to sneak into Leftist demonstrations and disrupt them with counter protest (something the Left isn't used to doing or seeing -- with hilarious results); as well as first-person accounts of some of the Lefty forces of Indoctrination confronted by neo-cons with their own side of Free Speech. Love these folks. Scroll down the Left-Hand side to the "Favorite 'Blogs" section to find them.

And finally, I've stopped allowing comments to the postings. Apparently one of the new ways for advertising leeches to rip you off is a new variation of the e-mail "spam" theory -- they post bogus comments with links to their websites. I discovered they were bogus when (a) one of them was referencing something I hadn't even talked about, and (b) a comment turned up on a post I hadn't even completed yet! So, since they've ruined this for the bloggers as well now, I've just cut them off by eliminating the comments sections. E-mail me if you want to say "Hi!"


Oh, and my Cat says "Hello!"

Aftermath: life Slowly returns to "Normal" . . .

Hopefully you can read the wording on the sign; it reads "Delays on Routes to Houston." This alternated with "IH-10 closed at Baton Rouge Louisiana."

No Kidding? Texas Department of Transportation: Masters of the fine art of understatement.

The "Special Needs" Shelter I was working part-time at has closed as they continue to consolidate the remaining refugees at Kelly AFB. Governor Perry has made it quite clear that any and all refugees who want housing in Texas, however temporary, are damned well going to get an apartment, house, trailer, nursing home, or whatever they want, and right now! Probably less than a third of the original Katrina refugees are left at Kelly and the number of Rita refugees is markedly less.

An interesting vignette or two from the disaster zones: one of our elders at Northwest Church is originally from Mississippi. His home church had the roof torn off during Katrina, so we arranged to purchase all the materials to replace the roof and sent it on it's way the first week. When he got there they replaced the roof as congregation members cooordinated relief efforts from the parking lot; serving up barbecue on grills as meat markets donated their stocks that would've gone bad without electricity anyway. (Fortunately for us, God had seen fit for our congregation to pay off our mortgage last month, so we had the cash on hand to do that for them.)

Meanwhle, Max Lucado's Oak Hills Church has been quietly finding refugee families that want to stay in San Antonio and completely furnishing their new apartments/homes with furniture, kitchen items, clothing, and everything they need to start over. They've done it for an uncounted number of familes so far -- and I'm sure they'll try to continue to do it anonymously as long as loudmouths like me don't ruin it.

Two interesting things of a Nursing nature that tie into this as well. One of the reasons I cut back on my volunteering towards the end was the incredible inflexibility of my co-workers. The "Hospital Nurses" couldn't seem to get over the fact that the clinic would frequently shut down when there weren't enough nurses to cover 24/7. To me this seemed to be the logical outcome when (a) you're dealing with volunteer help, and (b) it's a First Aid Clinic -- not a hospital ward, for crying out loud.

The other was the attitude some of the evacuees displayed. One of the Nurses I work with told me that when she was distributing clothing to a 10-year-old-girl, the girl replied "I don't wear Levis, I wear Fubus.."

The nurse asked her, "Honey -- where's your suitcase?"

The girl replied, "I ain't got no suitcase."

The nurse said to her "That's right sugar -- and you ain't got no Fubus, either. These are brand-new Levis -- still got the tags on and everything-- that somebody paid good money so you wouldn't be walking around naked -- like you're about to be if you turn down these Levi's again." The girl took the Levis. When the girl's mother heard what happened she apologized profusely -- said the girl had never had a pair of Fubu jeans in her life.

So, more than a few frustrations, as you might imagine.

Meanwhile, our planned expedition to Galveston this weekend did not come off as planned, as you might guess. Instead we went north 40 miles to San Marcos Texas, which has no less than two huge outlet malls. Ariane and I got some new scrubs for work, and I found a Dickies outlet store (I always wear white Dickies pants with my scrub tops; looks professionally "Nurse-y", and doesn't feel as weird as scrub pants.) Ariane found a "Le Creuset" kitchenware store and dropped the appropriate hints so that I know where to shop for Christmas; a mere 83 days, 4 hours, 1 miute, and 29 seconds away as I write this.

The weather has returned to what passes for normal in South Texas this time of year: blue skies, 90+ degrees, and more sunshine than should be legal.

So, all is well -- if not peachy!

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part VI)

As the realization hits me that we really, truly dodged the bullet with Rita, I find myself overcome with unequal parts of disappointment and relief.

We drove to San Marcos (40 miles north) this afternoon to shop for Julian's birthday present. (Fifteen. Fifteen!!! Can you believe that?!?) On the way we stopped at Costco in San Antonio and witnessed a wonderful example of human compassion. One of the familes in line had a variety of household supples in their carts; pillows, clothing, blankets, linens, and a refrigerator. When they tried to pay with a white Visa card with a Red Cross on it (one of the cards they're handing out to Katrina Evacuees) the cashier called the manager. You could see the consternation and fear on their faces, wondering why the manager had to be there -- until the manager explained "We're not letting you pay retail price for these -- you only pay Wholesale when you have one of these Red Cross (or FEMA) cards."

So they walked out of Costo wiht $1,500.00 of goods for less than $750.00. Made me tear up right there and get the sniffies.

Meanwhile, the shelves of the stores are getting bare. (See the Link above). As the Katrina evacuees start setting up shop in their new homes in San Antone, the Rita evacuees are buying groceries for their host families whilst they're here; as well as groceries to take back to Houston/Corpus Christi/wherever with them. (With most of the stores closed where they came from, they're being cautious and taking stuff back with them.) So I think it'll be a very profitable and happy 4th quarter for San Antonio retailers, but a lot of fun shopping for groceries the next few days.

I'll probably be working more than a few shifts the next few days at the Baptist Church Shelter for Katrina Refugees. More than a few nurses evacuated San Antonio when Hurricane Rita seemed aimed at the city (or were federalized by FEMA or local Health Departments) which makes Shelter Help at a premium.

Isn't there some kind of Chinese curse that says "May you live in Interesting Times?" Heh-heh-heh.

Ah, who am I kidding? I'm loving this!

~~JD~~

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part V)

What a difference a day makes, indeed.

Pastor Al from Indiana called this morning. He, his wife Betty, and his brother are holed up in a hotel in Schulenburg Texas; halfway between Houston and San Antonio. They were kind of humbled to think God had found them somebody to offer their home to them this far from Indiana, and incredibly grateful. Well, we're all just servants, and i was glad to have been of (potential) service. So they're fine, and may head back to Corpus Christi tomorrow or Sunday, depending on what Rita does in the next 12 hours.

The clouds are again rotating above San Antonio like they did for Katrina; just a LOT closer this time. As the storm has shifted farther to the north the winds have started shifting to the northeast and coming in pretty quickly -- about 20-40 mph gusts. The clouds have filled the normally clear-blue cloudless South Texas skies; rotating counter clockwise overhead.

Awe-inspiring, really.

We're all watching this very warily of course. This damned storm could quite easily take a left turn when it makes landfall and still give San Antonio hell.

But, for now, we appear to have dodged the bullet.

The best part of all is: I'm facing a Saturday where all the shopping, laundry, cleaning, and chores have been done already. Plus I've got a case of chilled Coors in the refrigerator and 2 bags of chip and dip.

I feel a "Lord of the Rings" marathon coming on . . . .

~~JD~~

The View from I-10 Eastbound

The Westbound lanes of IH-10, usually empty during the morning commute, are full of refugees from Galveston/Houston area. The sun rises through a murky mass of impending cloudbank from Rita; still hundreds of miles away but whose cloudtops are easily visible from San Antonio. (Pardon the blurriness; shot on the fly during the morning commute.)

The View from Sam's Club in San Antonio

Thursday afternoon 9/22/2005: It doesn't look too unusual until you notice everyone has 2 or 3 cases of bottled water in their carts. Bottled Water! Also, due to the limitations of my camera, you can't see the lines -- 8-10 people long each.

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part IV)

It's 3am, and I can't sleep. I swear I can feel my ears pop with the lowering barometric pressure.

Spent yesterday doing laundry (if the power goes out you can't wash clothes -- and we usually do laundry in Casa Largo on Saturdays -- right when Rita should be coming ashore. See Previous Post "Hurricanes and Moral Quandries . . . still don't Help Me do the Laundry!")

About noon I went to get some shopping done -- same reason. Wal-Mart had Guards! on the bottled water!!! Apparently it went fast when Rita started aiming at South Texas, and one store had some kind of trouble when the water ran out. They were limiting customers to one case each; so i had to make a trip to Sam's Club to get another case. Wal-Mart was in short supply of bread, tuna, peanut butter, and cold remedies, as well as water.

Traffic was remarkably light. Really weird. Applied Rain-X to both cars' windsheilds. That stuff really works great; and it's too late to apply it when it starts to rain.

Got an e-mail from my former church in Indiana; our former pastor is in Corpus Christi with his brother and seeking shelter inland. I e-mailed them back to call us if they need anyhting. We'd be happy to put them up in our tiny apartment.

Picked up my weekly quota of comic books and extra Coors and chips. Gotta do something if the power goes out.

And I still can't sleep.

~~JD~~

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part III)

MSNBC'sw Website captioned this "Thousands of cars slowly make their way out of Houston, Texas, on Wednesday to escape Hurricane Rita." I'd say that's about right.

Rita is still a Cat-5 storm, and has started to shift to the Northwest. While that's something of a relief (since we won't be hit head-on) I'm feeling more than a little guilt as she sidles up towards already-devastated New Orleans and the bulk of the Katrina refugees in Houston.

So, that's a bad thing. Fotunately Texas has a no-nonsense governor in Rick Perry who started evacuating those refugees earlier this week to Arkansas and (sigh) San Antonio. And unlike New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin (who seems terrified that he'll lose his constituency and is trying to re-populate his city frantically) Perry has expedited placement of the refugees in permanent housing through Section 8 vouchers and Housing Loans for refugees. Lotta these folks are here to stay, whether Ray Nagin likes it or not.

The sun also rose this morning; with apologies to Hemingway. The high overcast is reflecting glare everywhere and makes the sky appear bright white. Governor Perry has ordered the Southbound Lanes of I-45 and I-10 to be turned around at 9am to double the flow of traffic outbound from Galveston; which means it's getting VERY serious.

And Fox News has just reported that draining groundwater from the aquifers und Houston has lowered the elevation of the city fifteen to twenty feet in the last century; which could be catastrophic if Cat-5 Rita comes ashore there.

An interesting aside for the Global Warming conspiracists lurking out there. Several years ago I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where they have the U-505 German U-boat on display. I asked the tour guide why there was so little German U-boat activity in the Caribbean during the war. He replied the Germans were terrified of hurricanes; that a U-boat could only stay submerged 12-16 hours, and if they had to surface in a hurricane, the crew would all be killed. This made little sense to me (Hurricanes? How often are there Hurricanes?) until I heard on the TV Joe Bastardi from Accu-Weather saying that his father (who was also a meteorologist) saying that there used to be a LOT more hurricanes in the gulf in the beginning of the 20th century. Houston/Galveston had hurricanes in 1900, 1909, 1918, 1926, 1935, 1946, and 1954 -- then no hurricanes until 1983.

Apparently the cycle has swung around again; and considering the sunspot cycle just completed a major upswing a year or two ago, it seems likely we're starting back toward that cycle again.

Just don't spout the pop-psych answer of "Global Warming, Dude!" I'm not in the mood right now.

~~JD~~

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part II)

Traffic was stop-and-go all the way home both ways tonight; a far cry from the usual San Antone commute. I'm glad I have the day off tomorrow; it's bound to be a cast-iron BEAR driving through town tomorrow.

Some interesting changes in the weather as Rita (I keep wanting to type "Katrina") has advanced to a solid Cat-5 storm. Already. The sky seemed grayer than usual on the drive home tonight, but nothing really unusual for late summer haze over South Texas. When night fell was when we noticed it was a solid high overcast. We've been watching the full moon for three days now; but there's no moon tonight, and the sky's reflecting the city lights in an errie glow.

Plus there's no wind with high humidity and high 80's -- a bit too warm and humid. The weather channel's radar is showing feeder bands bringing thunderstorms ashore in Corpus Christi already. Wow.

I have that weird little gut feeling I get when my predicitions are about to come true; and I still have it. Nothing but bad vibes coming from the near future and Rita.

I'm filling the cars' gas tanks tomorrow (just in case we lose power for a few days) and buying candles and lantern fuel. Also a couple of cases of bottled water, just in case. I'm pretty much counting on working all weekend; either in the Katrina Shelters or at work (in case somebody can't get in -- which is quite likely.)

My first real hurricane. I'd be excited if I wasn't full of foreboding. Frankly more than a bit scared, too.

~~JD~~

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part I)

All computer models are predicting Hurricane Rita will hit somewhere between Galveston and Corpus Christi Texas Friday or Saturday. She should be a minimum Category 4 storm (like Katrina) and possibly a Category 5. Just a little Texas history here; in 1946 a Category 5 storm hit Victoria Texas (about the same place Rita will hit) and charged inland to San Antone, destroying much of the city.

Which is where I am.

And, being a nurse, I couldn't evacuate if I wanted to. The Interstates heading northbound out of San Antone (I-10 and I-37) were clogged wall-to-wall with traffic this morning; making rush hour very interesting, indeed. (I may have to take the surface streets home tonight to get home at all.)

And to make it even more interesting, San Antonio's full of Katrina refugees. as well as coatal refugees fleeing Rita. My place of business is accepting patients from Corpus Christi starting tomorrow.

I may be off the Internet for awhile. Gotta go buy some bottled water tonight, if there's any left.

The Invisible Storm: Texas Steps Up and Kicks Ass in the Aftermath of Katrina.

The city of San Antonio Texas. The obvious allusion is that there's a Storm brewing; but it's more like an earthquake.

The line to unload donated supplies to the warehouses at Kelly AFB. It took me less than 3 minutes to get to the front of this line -- they work really, Really fast! Several of the folks in line were singing hymns as they worked, and a lot of the group joined in on songs they knew.

The line of volunteers (over 50) waiting to undload your vehicle of donations. I saw SUVs, vans, cars, station wagons, buses, and the occaisional 18-wheeler unloaded in rapid fashion. Ants should be this efficient. No messin' around here, bubba. Welcome to Texas.

The first thing you see on entering the warehouses the refugees call "home" is the Red Cross registration desk for Volunteers. Whilst I blurred the pictures deliberately to protect identities, thye actually DO move that fast and efficiently trying to get everyone signed up and working. This airman in particular had been at this desk almost 16 hours, and was looking forward to going home for abite to eat in 8 or 9 hours . . . and then working Saturday as long as they'd let him. "These are my People; I'm from Baton Rouge," he said. "They need our help, and I'm not gonna let them down."

The SECOND thing you see on enteing the the warehouse; row upon row of military field cots. Ugly but quite comfy, there are 175 cots stacked up so everyone can have more than one if necessary. The refugees comforts are being seen to very capably and humanely, indeed.

The Job Fair in progress 24/7 at Kelly AFB in the Refugee quarter. Major employers from all over San Antonio are screening and hiring folks on the spot for everything from truck driving to hair cutting to nurses to engineers. (By the way; I should mention that the refugees are housed in air-conditioned Motor Pool warehouses that ate roughly 100 yards wide by 500 yards long -- and there are FIVE of these monstrous hangars end-to-end full of people!) The Job Fair occupies the entirety of Hangar #2.

The DMAT Medical Teams (Disaster Medical Area Team, I think) who have the absolute WORST bedsidemanner ever. Most of these folks were activated against their will and sent clear across the state to San Antonio on short notice, and their attitude shows.

A view of one smaller shelters in San Antonio; called a "Special Needs" shelter because the occupants have more medical or other problems. Putting these folks in smaller shelters (such as this one ruyn by a local Baptist Church) allows them better attention so that hopefull these folks won't fall between the gaps of a social system stretched incredibly taut.

A few of my co-workers at the shelter I'm volunteering at this week (and most likely this month.) I've worked with nurses from Iowa, Alabama, Illinois, South Carolina, Florida, and even a few from Texas, imagine that!

The face of FEMA: the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In fairness as well as to counter the negative stuff you hear on TV; FEMA has never been designed as a "hands-on" relief agency, but as backup to the Agencies already in place (i.e., your local Red Cross, Catholic Chartities, Salvation Army, and local government.) The FEMA guys appear in their khaki army fatigue pants and navy blue polo shirts and ask what we need; and what we need appears the next day -- in massive quantities. You have to be very careful what you ask for. Yo ask for wheelchairs, you very well might end up with 50 of them. You complain about transportation problems and three brand-new 15-passenger Econoline vans are sitting in your parking lot the next day. You need water? You get three semi trucks full of it before sundown. We've learned to be specific and cautious in our requests.

Busy, Busy, Busy. . . . No Time to Talk Right Now.

I wish I could somehow convey with words the majesty, the grandeur, and the mind-numbing horror of a near-miss from Hurricane Katrina to my friends and family up north. The Refugees are pouring into San Antonio and the strain on the local economy is incredible -- and probably unimaginable.

I got the call we had refugees at work Sunday afternoon and headed in to work a partial shift to help out the weekend nurse. Ariane and I bought quite a few supplies at Wal-Mart (wet-naps, fleece blankets, band-aids, antibiotic ointment, and Tylenol -- and specific clothing for one of out patients -- shoes, pants, & underwear.) Friday I get off for Labor Day, and I'm heading over to Kelly AFB to volunteer some time.

I wish I could put this into words better. This was a dress rehearsal for something worse -- and God help us when THAT happens.

More later.

~~~JD~~~

Notebook of Weather Observations Whilst a Hurricane passes me by . . . .

Saturday 8/27 5:00pm: Looks like Katrina is going to be the largest, closest hurricane to South Texas since we moved here in 2002. Haven't seen any changes to the weather yet, though.


Sunday 8/28 7:00am: Weather's a little weird this morning. The land "Where the Sun spends the winter" (old San Antonio Tourist slogan) is overcast and grey; looking more like Winter than Mid-August. Showers are peppering us intermittently even though It hasn't rained steadily here since April (and rarely does in the Summer.) The clouds are odd as well: they're all high broken overcast cumulus clouds with a fair amount of sunshine peeking through.

Sunday 8/28 12:00pm: Counting Louisiana license plates on the way from church: 2 or 3 seen. (We rarely, if ever, see any Louisiana plates this far from the border.) Northwest Church of Christ had planned a water-party picnic to celebrate returning to school next week -- and got more water than they dreamed of. Well, the crops needed it pretty badly.

A lot less sunshine than this morning, too.

Sunday 8/28 7:00pm: The wind shifted this afternoon. Airplanes usually fly overhead on the landing pattern to San Antonio; now, they're taking off overhead as the wind has shifted to the Northeast. That doesn't happen too very often down here.

Magnificent Sunset; plenty of fat cumulus clouds to highlight and glimmer in the last vestiges of the setting sun.


Monday 8/28 7:00am: Wow -- just, Wow. Most incredible sunrise I may have ever seen in my life as high overcasrt and low, scudding, purple clouds frame the blood-red rising sun in the east. Almost didn't get a sunrise at all with all the cloud cover; but eventually it poked through and put on quite a show.

Wow, indeed.

Monday 8/28 12:00pm: It's only 85 degrees in the Alamo City; the forecast today was for 98 degrees. I seriously doubt it'll get there. It's actually quite cool and pleasant with the overcast. For once the air conditioner in the office I work in is cold in the extreme, instead of just being able to keep up.

Monday 8/28 4:30pm: First time I've ever driven home since we moved here that I didn't need tha A/C full-blast on and my sunglasses. Full scudding steel-grey sky in progress overhead; and the dust patterns on my windsheild say it's been drizzling on-and-off most of the day.

At a stoplight on the way home I see another weird weather thing I've never seen before. The clouds are coming out of the east and making a left turn above the city and heading south. I wondered if I was losing my mind until I realized; it's the cenmtral rotation of the clouds around the storm's eye.

Man, that's gotta be one kick-ass storm to influence the weather this directly over here. I'm a Midwestern boy who's seen lightning storms, blizzards, tornadoes, and green skies -- but this is truly awe-inspiring.

Counted 27 Louisiana license plates on the way home.

Wow.

~~~JD~~~

Katrina Bitch-Slaps Gulf Coast; Film at 11 . . .

The above picture is of a Hurricane Evacuation Route sign on I-45 heading north from Galveston Island, which I mentioned in a previous post. It's a weird thing to see one of these along the Interstate in good weather; and another thing entirely to watch them as you're evacuating your home and loved ones from a killer hurricane's path; like my neighbors in Louisiana are doing right now. We're feeling the effects right now here in San Antone. This morning the Airport started lauching airplanes in the opposite direction as usual (to the North rather than the south) as the winds shifted from Hurricane Katrina. The skies are intermittently overcast as feeder bands sweep north from the storm; we even got a bit of rain as well.

Got a little Captain in Ye? 

J.D. Long, Famed American Astrounaut, attempts to take his own picture in a mirror at the Manned Space Flight Center in Houston TX. (Rumors about his beard being caught in the helmet's visor appear to be false.) 

David Sheik-Hossen; world traveling French Astronaut, visits the Manned Space Flight Center in Houston TX. (Photo without space helmet not available.) 

Life Is What Happens To You On The Way To Do Other Things . . . .

The oddest thing happened to me the other day.

For the first thing, I've noticed that Interstate highways leading away from the Gulf Coast (I-37 from Corpus Christi TX; I-45 from Galveston TX; I-65 from Mobile AL) all have exta-wide right shoulders and little blue-and-white signs every 2 miles that read "Hurricane Evacuation Route." It's a bit weird watching the little signs leading away from the coast for 50 miles or so, but nice to knolw somebody had the foresight to think of such a contingency.

Makes sense, right? In case of impending hurricane, they use the shoulder too for added traffic capability.

The second thing? Well, last Sunday we decided to go to beautiful Corpus Christi Texas. Fabled land of Spring Break debaucheries, Sunshine, and the world's greatest coastal fishing, as well as the home of the U.S.S. Lexington -- the feared "Blue Ghost" aircraft carrier of WWII. Seems like a safe bet for a day trip, right?

Heh. Guess again.

Admission to the Lady Lex was about $21.95 per person -- substantially greater than we planned. After touring the old girl (which is in substantial need of repair, unfortunately) we drove though downtown Corpus looking for a beachside seafood joint, figuring it'd be chaper and fresher closer to the Gulf, right?

Again, Heh-heh-heh.

With apologies to any residents of the Belle of the Gulf, she's certainly seen better days. The downtown looked like a hurricane had been through there recently, although it's almost certainly been 10 years or better. Vacant lots; closed stores; and a general air of urban semi-blight prevailed. After miles of driving up and down Seaside Blvd looking for a place to eat, we eventually returned to our starting point to an old-fashoined Diner which had very good food -- but not the seafood we had our taste buds set on.

A nice day, slightly disappointing overall, but not terrible. Still, disappointing, and a bit creepy and sad.

So this past Friday (five days later, for those completists out there) I took a day off for another excursion. After a quick pit-stop at the ever-delightful Buc-ee's (see previous post) which has become my nephew David's favorite kitschy tourist trap, drove on to Houston TX and the Johnson Manned Space Center. There we saw the sights and (almost) took the tour of the Center before it started raining and abbreviated out tour.

Since we had some extra time on our hands, we decided to toodle the 27 miles down I-45 to Galveston Island and see what was out there as well. A trip unplanned; almost as an afterthought, but that road less traveled has made all the difference. We found Houston's Chinatown that we'd been looking for (for almost 3 years!) We also found a plethora of Seaside souvenir shops, bars, and cheap excellent seafood joints like we'd been searching for the previous weekend, and ate until we were stuffed. The place we found had the BEST deep-fried soft-shelled crabs I've eaten since i was stationed in Augusta Georgia 21 years ago -- just magnificent. Out waiter was a teenaged Russian emigre attending U.T.-Houston, and was both surprised and thrilled I spoke a bit of conversational Russkiy.

Imagine that.

Galveston's pretty enough and reasonably-enough-priced that we talked about maybe moving there. Oh yeah, that'd break my heart; having to live on the ocean and eat fresh seafood every day.

God Provides, indeed.

~~~JD~~~

A Brief Note Before I Run Off . . . .

Been awfully busy lately, so I haven't had much time to update lately. We've got our nephew David visiting from Paris (the one in France) so we're almost constantly on the go somewhere on the weekends -- which is when I usually post, y'know.

Plus to make matters worse, my USB ports on our brand-new laptop are on the fritz; which means I can't synch up my camera to post any new pictures. We've figured out a fix; but it will take me an hour or two of uninterrupted time to do it -- which I haven't had lately.

So we're all alive an well. Work is going very well for both of us; and we completed our move last weekend. Pictures when they become available. Gimme a week or two.

~~JD~~

Hurricanes & Moral Quandries . . . still don't help me do the Laundry!

It's a Saturday, which means here at Casa Largo we clean the house: vacuum everything, steam clean the "accidents" the cats have had recently; empty every garbage can in the joint, and do the laundry. Since we're in the process of moving to a new apartment the end of this month, that means everything, and I mean EVERYTHING gets washed. Linens, towels, blankets, comforters -- everything.

And, of course, we're expecting Hurricane Emily to storm through here later this week with some much-needed rain -- so we're trying to get a leg up on the situation by doing everything as early as possible. So, we're pretty busy.

That means a lotta laundry to be done!

As I'm doing the cleaning, the laundry, the vacuuming, and the garbage, I'm catching little bits on Fox News and the Internet. Three things really caught my eye that just make me shake my head in wonder. Maybe I grew up too morally bound to understand this "alternative lifestyles" thing -- buy I'm sorry; I just don't get this:

1) Natalee Holloway -- Sending an 18-year-old girl off to Aruba with "chaperones" who go to bed at 8pm and don't supervise these teenagers drinking underage and wandering off with locals into the hills for sex? Whose Idiot Idea of a good-time graduation gift was that? When I was driving limousines for a while I saw several parents try to rent "fully-stocked" limos for graduation -- including booze and pot for their high-school Seniors!

This reminds me of those "I've-gotta-be-friends-with-my-kids" kind of parents. I feel awfully bad for the Holloway/Twitty family, but what did they expect here? A Disney movie ending?


2) Shasta Groene -- Her mother has a half-dozen kids -- most of which by different fathers, by-the-by -- and invites total strangers into her house for drug parties? And when the family comes up dead and the two youngest kids missing -- whose fault was that? Shasta Groene and her brother pay the price . . . . but how did we get to this place? Didn't anyone from the Idaho Department of Families and children suspect anything? Didn't some member of her family suspect she might be in a potentially unhealthy or dangerous situation?


3) I stumbled across a blog here on Blogspot (and you'll forgive me; but I can't remember how I found it -- must've been the "Next Blog" button) called "Discreet London". This fellow has the chutpah to describe the affairs he has with other women in gloriously excruciating detail. But when his wife wants a divorce because she's having her own affair, he's at a loss for words. He makes this discovery, of all places, at a massage parlor:

The masseuse made eye contact with me; I could tell she was confused too. As soon as she clamped eyes on me, I felt ashamed of myself, ashamed of being here, and ashamed of not being able to get it up. Then, I did something I haven’t done in ages; I burst out in floods of tears.

Once the sobbing started, I just couldn’t stop. I was wailing like a baby, which only served to confuse the young lady even more. I’m sure whatever experience she had as a prossie didn’t prepare her for this sort of thing. I guess punters don’t break down crying very often.

It was very awkward, I could sense her unease. I sat up on the table and saw her looking at me, her expression bordered upon the horrified. I think looking me in the eyes was more than she could bear and she finally wrapped her arms around me and held me against her with my head resting on her shoulder.

I was back in my car before I knew it, heading back towards my home. But I wasn’t ready to go back home yet, so I decided to just drive around. I drove aimlessly, without purpose or destination for a little while before realising I had no place else I could go. Finally, I gave up and just went back to my house.

Maybe I just needed some human contact, perhaps the orgasm I didn’t have wasn’t really what I required. Maybe I just needed a good cry in the arms of someone sympathetic. Well, “the cry� wasn’t that satisfying and “the arms� were less than sympathetic, but at least it was something. It’s more than I'm going to get elsewhere, that's for sure.

Really.

Y'know, what did he expect? He's getting exactly what he was going to give his wife -- shattered marriage, shattered dreams, broken home -- and he's crying about it?

Lie with dogs -- wake up with fleas. You are judged by the company you keep, indeed. Don't get me wrong on any count here -- I feel really bad for the poor participants of the above-described tragedies. But I really feel somebody ought to be shaking the living crap out of these folks, telling them to wake up and smell the coffee, already!!!

The self-delusion of rationalization is a Sad, sad, and dangerous thing.

~~~JD~~~

NURSING: Noble Profession of Comfort and Care . . . ?

. . . . or just a Royal Pain in the Ass?

I'm a Nurse. More specifically, I'm a male Nurse, which many see as a contradiction in terms. Very specifically, mostly by other (female) Nurses.

An example, if I may. I always tell people I've been a Nurse for 25 years, because I consider it to be true. I re-enlisted in my second tour in the Army to become what they call a 91C10 (or "Ninety-One Charlie") to get better promotion opportunities. I attended a ten-week Combat Medic Course from June to August 1980, followed by the ten-week "Ninety-One Charlie" course from August to October; which was swiftly followed by six months of on-the-job training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri from November 1980 to March 1981. So after 11 months of medical training I was officially awarded the title of 91C10 in March, 1981.

And promptly had it taken away in April.

You might ask why -- I know I sure as heck did. I had re-enlisted for a specific job -- only to have it rescinded a month later? What's up with that?

The explanation were complicated. It seems that several (if not, indeed, MANY) of the graduates of the 91C10 course were challenging the LPN (or LVN, depending on your state) boards of their home states and being granted licenses in their home states after graduating as 91C10s. At that time in the early 1980's LPN Nurses were a two year degree, and someone somewhere didn't like the idea that eleven-month wonders could become Practical Vocational Nurses.

I've frequently found that when an explanation is that complicated, somebody's hiding a nasty truth. The theory I've heard from more than one Army nurse is that it was not the quality of the nurses that civilian nurses found unpalatable; and the quality of these nurses was never in question. (Army-trained nurses consistently score in the top 10% of their licensure boards.)

It was the fact that the military was filling the nursing pool with male nurses. They were Gender Offenders; highly competent, capable nurses that were almost exclusively male in a traditionally female profession.

I laughed the first time I heard this, and you might, too. In the intervening years I've seen far too many nurses make rude, sexist comments to dismiss it easily.

Another story might illuminate more completely. I was interviewing for a nursing job in Valparaiso IN one time, and had a ten o'clock appointment with the Director of nursing to interview. I arrived to my interview in a shirt, tie, and dress slacks.

As I was waiting for my interview, the UPS girl came in to pick up a package. The receptionist called into the Director's office to tell her UPS was here to pick up, and her 10:00 am appointment was there as well. (The UPS girl was dressed in the traditional brown Dickies uniform of UPS workers, I might add.)

The Director of Nursing came out with a brown-wrapped parcel, which she put into my hands, saying "that needs to be there tomorrow, okay?" She then took the UPS girl into her office -- and as soon as the doors closed, the laughter began.

The laughter died fairly quickly, though. The Director of Nursing interviewed the UPS girl for almost five solid minutes before realizing her "mistake." When she finally did come out and get me for my interview, she spent almost a half-hour convincing me I wouldn't like working there -- that I was more of a "Home Health Nurse", and would be happier there.

(In other words, you're not good enough to work for a regular employer. Go work with nurses who have to worry from day-to-day about if they'll have work tomorrow.) And lest you think this is simply my own paranoid ravings, the demographic that the Nursing profession is losing fastest is males with under three years of nursing experience. Has been for the last 15 years, too.

The one thing about the "Center" where I recently worked? You don't have to be a female nurse to be sexist about men you work with.

Some days I just despair; but most of the time I laugh my butt off at the idiots I used to work for. I must be feling melancholy this week, otherwise I don't know why I'm sharing this.

Heh.