I wear more hats than that.
My 5 month saga of attempting to be qualified to be a living kidney donor for my sister-in-law seems to have come to an end. Not that they didn’t like my kidneys but another candidate edged me out it seems.
What was most interesting about the (lengthy! exhaustive!) process was I got a free two day complete physical work up at a first rate medical center. Blood was drawn, my blood pressure taken… lots of urine including a 24 hour collection at one point. I was X-rayed, CAT-scanned… they used that Iodine drip that makes you feel like you are about to pee fire… even vetted by a psychiatrist. Later I wore a 24 hour blood pressure gauge. The only thing that really turned up was a microscopic kidney stone starting in one of my kidneys but apparently that was not a deal-breaker; they even said that would be the kidney they would give her.
In the end I think I’m both a bit disappointed and relieved. Oh well, these donor kidneys don’t last forever; she’ll be calling me back in about 10 years or so. Would do again.
And your back is stronger!
For is it’s more of a weeder question to see if you even know what you’re talking about. You wouldn’t believe the number of people you see that put C++ on a resume and can’t hack it.
Spontaneous dance party in Starbucks this morning. Standing in line, and suddenly the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Apache” comes on the in-store music, and one of the baristas gets up on a chair and declares it to be “dance for a complimentary scone” time.
I love my wacky baristas. This has set the tone for an awesome day, I can tell. Also, maple pecan scone.
My wife is out of town for a few days, including the weekend, and what is my thought process?
“This will give me a good block of free time to experiment with Left for Dead mapping!”
I’m a sad shell of a man. Should be fun though!
Yes, but over the phone? Orally?
No wonder we don’t see you in the beer thread anymore. ;)
Cheers to self-improvement!
In one hour here in KC, I have accomplished more work in regards to helping my father across the country than I did in a week there. I feel so freaking powerful right now. Gonna go find some phone books to rip apart.
Kick some insurance fuckers in the teeth for me while you’re at it.
Kaigen
5732
So I’ve had this notion of going to culinary school running through my brain for a while and several months ago I happened to reconnect with a very old friend who is now head pastry chef at one of the best restaurants in town. One morning while visiting her restaurant for breakfast she came out and chatted with a while and gave me a lot of great advice and offered to get me into her kitchen for one night so I could really see and experience a commercial kitchen before I ran off to culinary school.
Last night was that night and I had a blast. I thought I was only going to be observing for a couple of hours but I wound up working for six hours doing some simple stuff like plating desserts, salads and soups (in a restaurant where presentation is a pretty big deal) as well as a lot of time to watch how the kitchen ran and people interact, including the chef very nearly blowing up at one of the other cooks. It was a great experience to have and one I am very grateful for.
So, on Monday, I’m going to be turning my application to my top pick (I visited a couple of schools in Portland about two weeks ago) and then hopefully I will be packing up my bag and leaving this podunk town come September. I’ll be giving up a stable job with benefits to get myself in heavy debt in a piss poor economy, but god damnit I can’t remember the last time that I was this excited.
Sarkus
5733
But . . . but . . . it’s Spokane!
;-)
Good luck man. I lived there for four years and even though it’s not a bad place and I’ve thought about going back there some day, Portland is a very nice step up if that turns out.
Kaigen
5734
I don’t really hate Spokane and I certainly imagine going back someday, but I’ve lived here my whole life and that’s not a good thing no matter where you’re from. But, Spokane? I’m amazed I’m still reasonably sane.
That’s fantastic Kaigen, Portland is a great town. Not to say that Spokane isn’t, I just have almost no experience or first-hand knowledge of the place beyond using it as a kicking-off point for a wine tour back to Seattle. I can imagine the combination of exhilaration and terror you are likely feeling, and I commend you for jumping into this. Best of luck.
Portland is way better than Spokane.
— Alan
Mrenda
5737
Anyone here know anything about sharks?
I’ve been sailing for the weekend. It was a very nice time, good sailing, good dinner, good drinks, thanks for asking. However, yesterday, while we were off the Old Head of Kinsale, Cork, Ireland link (to the right of where it says Ballymackean by about a mile) we saw a shark. Now we’ve seen loads of dolphins over the time, and they always play about with the waves we make and come right up to the boat. We’ve also seen a basking shark, bloody huge thing about 20 to 30 feet long.
Yesterday was different, a guy with us, a relative of a friend who is over visiting from America said he spotted a shark. I went over to look thinking it’d be a dolphin, because they’re always about, but this was definitely a shark. It’s fin was extremely sharp and pointed about a 10 to 12 inches in length. The top of it’s body was pitch black, and looked almost like oil it was so slick looking. We saw it cruise next to us for about 15 seconds before it twitched and flicked it’s body and went shooting below the water. The rest of it’s body was similarly black and the underside was almost a yellowy white. The length of the body from tail to fin was about four/four and a half feet. It was bloody awesome. I fell asleep with all my childhood fantasies of sharks in my head. I don’t have any idea what kind of shark it is though. Anyone have a clue based on my description and its location.
It’s . . . a Maserati. Bueno!
Mike, yes! Though I got involved in too much this weekend, so it’s going to be next.
Unfortunately I don’t know too much about the sharks around Ireland but your question intrigued me so I figured I’d poke around. From what I’ve read, blue sharks are pretty common in your area, from your description of the tail, color and size that might fit. Was it anything like this?
Mrenda
5740
It could have been, but I don’t know. I don’t think I saw that second fin type bump just in front of the tail. We only got a good look at the fin and the tail we only saw for a second as it twisted and went below the water. If I had seen the mouth I would have been able to identify it somehow myself. What surprised me about it was that it was so black. I’ve heard of blue sharks out to sea, but from what I heard, they won’t look that dark unless it’s overcast and dark anyway. Yesterday the sun was splitting the stones.
Still, it was cool. Now I want to go shark diving off South Africa. My interest has been rekindled.
