Quick Update

Scott’s surgery was yesterday & went fine. He is home from the hospital and resting more or less comfortably. He’ll be home all week, and phone calls are welcome.

I suppose it would be ungrateful of me to complain much about the experience, since the staff at Kaiser were all very nice and helpful, but it seems to me that hospitals in general are sucky places for people to actually get better.

So much noise, light, activity — and the practice of sticking multiple patients in the same room means that even when you’re being left alone, someone is coming in to check on your neighbor. The first room Scott was put into was so small that there was barely room to squeeze a chair in next to the bed — the only reason I could was that Scott was in the corner next to a sink, so I was able to wiggle a chair into that small alcove. His neighbor on the other side of the curtain didn’t even have that much extra space. And the third guy in the room had a very noisy case of pneumonia; you could literally hear him snoring 30 feet down the hall. After a few hours of that, and some words with the head nurse, Scott was moved into a larger, quieter room, but even so he didn’t get much sleep.

I know there’s reasons why hospitals are set up that way — and aside from trying to cram too many people into a too-small room, I’m sure there are good reasons for just about all of it. But it does seem to me that the whole calculus is off somehow, and is designed more to make things eaiser on the hospital staff than on the patient. Shouldn’t allowing patients to experience restful, healing sleep be a part of the equation?

All complaining aside, I am grateful that he got good care and that he’s back home where he belongs, sleeping in our bed with Tommy cuddled up next to him.

But It’s Thomas Jefferson’s Koran!

By way of Paul the Spud, this bit of news is worth spreading around:

Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he’d take his oath of office on the Koran — especially from Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, who called it a threat to American values.

Yet the holy book at tomorrow’s ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We’ve learned that the new congressman — in a savvy bit of political symbolism — will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

“He wanted to use a Koran that was special,” said Mark Dimunation, chief of the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress, who was contacted by the Minnesota Dem early in December. Dimunation, who grew up in Ellison’s 5th District, was happy to help.

Jefferson’s copy is an English translation by George Sale published in the 1750s; it survived the 1851 fire that destroyed most of Jefferson’s collection and has his customary initialing on the pages. This isn’t the first historic book used for swearing-in ceremonies — the Library has allowed VIPs to use rare Bibles for inaugurations and other special occasions.

Very nice touch, linking to Koran to the author of the Declaration of Independence. I like it.

New Year’s Random 10

To wrap up the year and kick off the New Year fesitivites, here’s a gala iTunes Random 10:

1) Tubthumping – Chumbawamba
2) Another Day In Paradise – Phil Collins
3) I Love Paris – Les Negresses Vertes
4) Let’s Get It Started (Spike Mix) – Black Eyed Peas
5) I Feel Lucky – Mary Chapin Carpenter
6) Trapped – Bruce Springsteen
7) Looking for a New Love – Jody Watley
8) Nights in White Satin – The Moody Blues
9) The Revolution Starts Now – Steve Earle
10) I Wanna Be Sedated – The Ramones

Cheers all!

Party On!

And best wishes from me, Scott, and all the kitties to all our friends and family for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2007. Catch you all on the flip side.

Pre-New Year’s Blogging: Out With The Old

I ran across a group on Flickr called “What’s In Your Bag” and decided to play along.

This being the last day of 2006, and in keeping with the “out with the old, in with the new” theme of New Year’s, here is a shot of everything that was in my day to day handbag today.

I didn’t realize that big a pile of receipts and shopping lists had accumulated in there. They have since been tossed into the trash bin. So much for the old!

I’ll figure out the new later. I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions.