Jabulani Jonny

We've Moved!

Hey all,

or whoever still happens to have my blog in their RSS reader.  I'm shutting this blog down and moving over to Jabulani Jonny.  I've also just finished building a photo specific site at Innermost Image so make sure you check that out as well.  See you there!    

Don't forget to change your bookmarks or update your RSS feed.  Thx!

Follow Up

Just so everyone knows...and the last post isn't left floating out in limbo...I voted on Friday.  My next post will be back to the regularly scheduled, mostly trivial stuff like:

I got a new guitar a few weeks ago.  This is a custom order, dream guitar from G&L.  Oh yeah baby, pics and recordings to come.  I'll catch you on the other side of election day coverage. 

Non-Choice

I'm struggling and completely conflicted in light of the impending election.  Here's why.  At the very onset of choosing a political candidate, I took the abortion issue off the table.  I vowed not to allow that to be the deciding factor in who I choose this coming Tuesday.  I personally believe that abortion is wrong; further, that partial birth and late term abortions are evidence of a level of brutality that I'm ashamed to admit is part of our human existence. 

Granted, there are gray areas.  Incest, rape and danger to the mother are all cause for rethinking that, and I'd like to think that each of those situations would allow for the life of both.  However, if it's not the case, the life of the mother should be of primary concern.  Those are just my thoughts and though I don't agree with abortion, I ain't the judge.  Am I for the overturning of Roe v. Wade?  I'm not sure that I am, to be honest.  But that's not what this post is about; cause I took abortion off the table. 

I vowed to do my best to make an informed decision not based on what FAUX News or any other media outlet spoon fed me.  So I started looking into both Obama and McCain and their previous voting records.  I looked at what Obama did at the state level and what they both did at the Senate level.  I looked at bills they supported, those they voted "present" on and why that might have been the case.  I FactChecked stuff they said and stuff that each said the other one said.  I looked at both platforms and what they claim to represent.  I looked at the proposed economic policies and comments on war in Iraq, Afghanistan and, possibly Iran.  I scoured un-affiliated websites looking for balanced insight into what their claims were.  I read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to see what it is these guys are supposed to be protecting and fighting for.  Needless to say, I feel like I've done more than most to take this seriously. 

Where did I end up?

Well after all that I strongly feel that Obama is the far superior candidate to turn this country out of its current state of affairs.  Now I'm going to get some major flack from that.  I live in Georgia which is dyed in the wool republican.  My family's republican, and so was I until this election.  Honestly, I can say that I'm an independent looking for the best choice.  People will ask how can I vote for Obama when he's promoting Socialist ideas.  Let me say that socialism is a lot more than just increasing income taxes on those that make an adjusted gross income over $250M and promoting the thought of government aided health care.  Many European union countries provide national health care and tax at higher rates, but aren't considered socialist, while many other countries like Columbia and Venezuela leave the poor and middle class to fend for themselves, while the "capitalists" enjoy the fruits of their endeavors.  I doubt that the US strives for either of these two positions exactly so the likelihood that this country will ever be led by a "socialist" regime is a little ridiculous to me.  I think the Obama=socialism moniker is trumped up.  Both JFK and FDR were accused of the same thing. 

Personally, I'm a recipient of a social program.  Because of Elliot's condition, he qualifies for Medicaid.  I can honestly say that this has had a tremendous impact on our one income family.  Are there people out there that game the system?  Sure there are.  Will a nationally sponsored health care have its downside?  You betcha.  However, I have seen some pretty ugly things when it comes to private insurance and medical coverage.  I've got great insurance; I consider myself to have an above-average education; but we have had to fight for coverage in several instances and, would we not have continually pressed our case, we would have been deemed responsible for tens of thousands in medical bills that insurance was responsible for.

Having said all that... I can't vote for Obama.  I'm kind of ashamed to say that it comes back to his stance on abortion.  His voting record at the state level on partial birth abortion and the Born Alive Infant Protection Act left me with the feeling that he was getting a little to "legal" in the view of infants and moms.  Granted, there are a lot of lines and some pretty foggy areas in that whole arena, but I would prefer that we err on the side of protecting life rather than looking for how far we can push the envelope on when a baby/fetus is qualified for the same rights as any other human.  Reading through some of his comments made it sound like we were back in the days of Clinton and we were trying to find out what the definition of "is" is. 

Where does that leave me now? 

Because of our electoral system I have been presented with an option of only one of two candidates being considered for the White House.  One I will not vote for and one that I want to, but can't.  Fortunately or unfortunately it's taken me about nine months of research to get to this point of indecision.  I'm not sure there's a purpose to this post other than to assuage my conscience, if my vote is ultimately not to vote.  If that's the case, then I have come to that decision with as much knowledge and soul-searching as I could muster.  I guess I should really be more concerned with my local officials, but heck...I don't have another nine months to dedicate to those guys.  

Pics from the Patch

This weekend the fam went to the pumpkin patch up the road, more for pictures than for picking out a pumpkin.  We met some friends up there and here are some of the pics we ended up with. 

Neglect

Wow.  I know someone who has completed neglected their blog.  Like a dried and withered chia pet I have left my blog to fend for itself against the cold vastness of the interweb.  I used to be a stat ho, checking to see who was reading.  I don't remember the last time I've looked at Sitemeter.  My lack in blogging lately has stemmed from the fact that I felt like nothing was going on that was of much interest.  It's only been lately that some interesting things have been going on, so here I am.

A couple weeks ago we sent a heartfelt email to Elliot's cardiologist at CHOP in Philadelphia.  We were concerned because Elliot is still on oxygen 24/7 and is slowly needing more to keep his saturations up.  We've read several stories of kids that were on oxygen before going in for their third HLHS surgery, the Fontan, and their lungs not being able to handle the additional bloodflow provided by the surgery.  The docs then have to go back in, undo the surgery and put them on the heart transplant list.  We didn't want that to be the case with Elliot.  We want him to ready for his third surgery so that everything goes by the book and we can move past it. 

We got a response back from the cardiologist and we were surprised to hear that he wasn't aware that Elliot was still on oxygen.  This struck us as a little crazy since our local cardiologist had just written a letter asking what could be done for Elliot's lungs.  It seems odd that he would never mention that he was still on oxygen.  So Dr. Rychik, our CHOP cardiologist, suggested we come up to Philly for a heart/lung cath to see exactly what was going on.  The plans were made and we made the two day trek up to Philly about a week and a half ago. 

We were only there for a short time, arriving on Friday for check-in and pre-op and leaving on Tuesday after he was discharged from the cath.  With the heart/lung cath, they were looking for a few things in particular:

1. What is the blood pressure in the lungs?  This was a major concern for us.  The entire HLHS repair requires low blood pressure in the lungs.  If the pressure is high, the third surgery wouldn't go well.  All along they thought Elliot's need for oxygen was due to high pressures in the lungs.
2. Is there narrowing of the pulmonary artery?
3. Are there any collateral veins that have formed back to the heart, allowing for a "path of least resistance" for unoxidized blood?
4. Does he have a lung disorder allowing for unoxidized blood to mix with oxidized blood in the lungs?

The cath showed that his lung pressures were actually low, which is fantastic news.  It means he's a good candidate for his third surgery coming up next year.  It also showed there was a slight narrowing of the pulmonary artery, but not enough to affect anything right now.  There were no collateral veins.  Both the narrowing of the artery and the collateral veins are things that could have been fixed with the cath, allowing Elliot to pretty much come off of oxygen immediately.  That's what we would have liked. 

What they found in the lungs is that he's got some Arteriovenous Malformation.  This is a slight malformation where the arteries join the veins to transfer oxygen in the lungs.  Basically it allows for unoxidized blood to mix with the oxidized and get pumped to the body, thereby reducing his O2 sats.  The good news is that they have seen where the third surgery corrects and reverses this phenomenon, however, they can't be sure because they don't know a lot about it.  This kid's a walking rarity...well, almost walking.

So we're settled back home now and not a whole lot's changed from before we went up there.  We're still on oxygen, but it looks like they're going to move Elliot's third surgery to sometime in January or February, earlier than originally thought.  He's still on his feeding tube, which means we have to follow him around with the feeding bag for the hour or so that it takes to run in. 

He is growing like a weed though and is developing very well.  He's very close to walking and Sunette's got him doing sign language and recognizing words.  He starts Algebra next week.

Sorry for the long post.  I'll keep you posted on Elliot.  There are a few other things that have happened, but I'm saving those for another post.  Got to keep something in the hopper.

My Morning Jacket at the Fox

Well my posts are a little delayed right now.  I've been lacking the discipline to blog when there doesn't seem to be a lot going on. 

This past Wednesday I met up with college roommate Danny, and guitar playing buddies John and Jeremy in Atlanta.  About 2 months ago Danny sprung for 4 tickets to the My Morning Jacket show at the Fox and told us all to make it happen.  Make it happen we did and we had a phenomenal time. 

We met up at the Holiday Inn Capital Grand in Atlanta and I set up my recording equipment for what would be a late night acoustic jam session back at the hotel room.  We played a little guitar that afternoon then headed to the show.  MMJ rocked it.  I mean, this was an excellent show and the crowd was waaaay into it.  If you've never heard of My Morning Jacket then you need to check them out, definitely one of the best bands out right now.  Go here and listen to I'm Amazed.  Then go here, which is a live album, and listen to Gideon, Off the Record and It Beats 4 U.  Awesome show, awesome band.

We left there about 11pm and headed back to the hotel for our jam session.  This happens everytime we all get together.  We basically stay up til the wee hours playing guitar and singing some of our favorite old songs.  I usually record the event for posterity's sake.  Here are a couple songs from that night.  Audio is embedded for those using a reader.  Come 'on to the site.

This Ol' Cowboy

Wait a Minute

Savannah Trip

For the past several years my college roommate of 4 years, and for a few years after graduation, has lived in Baltimore.  They've had a recent addition to their family with a new 4 month old, Jackson, so they decided to move closer to family by moving back to Savannah at the end of July.  I combined a work and pleasure trip to Savannah and we stayed with Danny and his wife Jordan Thursday and Friday night.  We had a wonderful couple of days, ate some great food and took some decent photos.  Here are some shots from the weekend.  It's great to have them close by again. 

This last shot is one of my recent favorites.

Elliot's B-day party

Hey guys,
Here's a video of Elliot's B-day party in case you missed it. 

(video embedded for those on RSS)

Happy Birthday Elliot!

Yesterday was Elliot's 1st birthday, though the party's today.  It's amazing to see how far he's come in this short time.  I remember back when we first got the news of his HLHS and the restricted atrial septum.  As the picture grew clearer during those few months before birth, we had no idea how this was going to play out.  We didn't know if Elliot was going to make it through the few minutes after birth, or through his surgeries, and what that life was going to look like.  To say that we struggled with faith is putting it mildly. 

However, Elliot arrived around 8:30am July 24th and he came out pink and crying, exactly what we'd hoped to hear.  Though they were predicting that he'd need immediate surgery after birth due to the restricted atrial septum, in fact they had the OR ready next door for it, his sats were actually good enough and they decided he didn't need that immediate operation to fix the ASD.  That in itself is a little miracle.  When they did the first of his HLHS procedures at 6 days of age, the surgeon explained that he had no idea how Elliot was stable for that week.  His atrial septum was completely closed off, which means no oxygenated blood should have been getting to his body since he didn't have a left ventricle to pump it there. 

We spent 2 1/2 months at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as Elliot recovered from his first surgery and we tried to get his oxygen sats up to a normal range.  We all got home in mid-September, but did a 3 week stent in Egleston Children's hospital in October.  We went back to CHOP for his second surgery right after Thanksgiving and were back home after one week.  That was a whirlwind trip.

So here we are after a year and i thought everyone would be interested in seeing how Elliot is doing.  Fantastic is all I can say.  Granted, he's still on oxygen and has his feeding tube, but he's doing extremely well right now.  He's progressing like the little boy he is.

To help you see how well he's doing, check out this video of some highlights from the last few months.  Happy Birthday Elliot!!

Elliot Update

This morning we had an appointment with Elliot's cardiologist for an echo cardiogram and a general checkup.  Lately Elliot's O2 sats have drifted lower, averaging in the mid-70's during the day and kind of bouncing around at night.  The doc thinks his Pulmonary arteries may be clamping down a little, which restricts the blood flow to the lungs. 

Since the HLHS repair is based on a passive blood flow system to the lungs this has the effect of keeping his sats lower.  He suggested trying some medication to "relax" the pulmonary arteries, which we've actually asked about as early as last October while we were staying at Egleston.  Looks like now may be the time to try.

We're still anticipating going back up to CHOP in Philadelphia the first part of next year for his third operation, so it looks like he'll be on oxygen at least to that point.  Hopefully the new meds will help to boost his sats and the Fontan (3rd procedure) will reinforce that. 

I have to say that it felt a little strange to be back in the doctor's office talking about going back to CHOP and what not.  Although we've been on oxygen, a feeding tube and plenty of meds, it feels as if it's been forever since being in the hospital. 

Well he turns a year old next Thursday and he really is doing great.  He's crawling very well right now.  He's standing and learning to walk a little while we hang on to him.  He's actually starting to eat pretty well now too, which is great.  He really is an amazing little person, very laid back and a great sense of humor.  I've got a video I'm putting together of all his little antics.  I'll post it in the next couple of days so you can see how big he's gotten.    

Training Update

Well blog posts have been slow around here the last couple weeks.  There really hasn't been a lot going on outside of work and home stuff.  I haven't been taking any photos lately and I'm missing the camera. 

We've really been working with Elliot on his crawling and eating.  He's doing so well right now, eating much better and crawling all over the place.  We're pretty excited, maybe that'll mean the end of the feeding tube before long.

Here's my quick update for the RagamuffinTop Challenge

Weekly Progress

This week has been  crazy busy at work, however I've gotten up each morning and met my training goals for the half-marathon in November.  I signed up on Los' RagaMuffintop challenge so this serves as my weekly update. 

This week I well on the training and the eating.  I'm taking the running a little slow due to ailing knees.  Hopefully I can get them up to speed in the next few weeks.  Here's what this week looked like:

Monday:  My Nike+iPod didn't save this workout due to user error.  However, I did 3.11 miles in a run/walk fashion.  I would run 1/2 mile then walk 1/2 mile, alternating for the duration.  On Monday I weighed 193.8lbs. 

Tuesday:  I hit Gold's Gym for an upper body workout.  Resistance training is the key to skinnying down.

Wednesday:  Same as Monday.  See...

Thursday:  I ran a mile, then did some 100 meter strides.

Saturday:  I just did a nice 30 minute bike ride at a pretty decent pace.  I didn't premeasure the distance so I'm not sure how far it was, maybe 10 or so miles. 

Yesterday morning I weighed 190.3, after hamburgers and some cobbler yesterday afternoon... hey it was my free day...  I weigh 191.4 this morning.  I think next week I'll be able to drop several.  It usually takes my body a couple weeks then I can drop pretty quickly.  We'll see.  Hope you guys had a great 4th. 

13.1

I need a fitness goal.  I've been reluctant to set any hard goals and deadlines because I've been slack in my fitness as of late and I'm fearful of not reaching those goals.  Isn't that the lamest thing you've ever heard?  So I'm spurred on by Los' RagamuffinTop Challenge. 

 

I'm inspired by that challenge.  In light of that I'm announcing a goal and training regimen to my blog readers.  To be followed by weekly updates on how I've done, where I am in my progress and whether I've died along the way. 

To that effect, I want to train for The Atlanta Half-Marathon on Thanksgiving Day following MarathonRookie's Half-Marathon Training schedule.  I enjoy running, but have always had knee issues so I'm giving myself plenty of time to work out the kinks. 

Here are my current stats & goals:

1.  Current Weight: 193lbs  (yikes)    Goal:  180lbs by Sept 1st

2.  Current Miles/Week: (umm...yeah)    Goal:  26 at the peak of training

3.  Goal:  Run the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day...and live.

So today I got started.  Over the weekend I picked up a new set of Nike+ kicks and the Nike+iPod sensor to let me track my runs and progress.  I started today with a 3 mile run/walk.  I say run/walk 'cause I've got to give my knees time to cooperate without falling off.  So here's to a new leaf and a new challenge.  See you at the finish line. 

  

Week Away

This woman is a great wife and awesome mom.  She's gone to Philly for a weeklong course.  Have fun hon, learn lots and hurry home!  Don't worry about us, we've got the boys coming over later.   By the way, do you think minced steak can fit through the feeding tube?  See you soon!!

Slow Week

Well, not much has been going on this week, hence the lack of posts.  I have been very good about getting up and exercising each morning.  I'm pretty stoked about that.  It's time for me to get back in shape, as I've allowed myself to settle into the banker lifestyle over the last couple of years. 

This Sunday Sunette leaves for a week long course up in Philly.  That means it'll just be me and the boy at the house for the week.  Luckily we've been able to round up some folks to help keep him while I'm at work.  I'm a little nervous with her being gone, but I think we'll have a good time. 

Gotta run, just a quick note as I grabbed my large latte from Fountain City Coffee and head into the office. 

What the Format?

I just have to post this.  Typical work scenario... we have Microsoft Office 2003 at our fairly large company.  IT has been reluctant to move to Office 2007, thankfully.  However, other companies have already made the switch and we're starting to receive the new office file types.  Oh you didn't know that Microsoft changed the file types in it's new version of Office, and the new file types are incompatible with all older versions of Office?  Where have you been? 

You have to either download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, which we can't do because we're on corporate IT lockdown; or you have to use an online file converter like Zamzar, which we can't get to because it's firewalled (because we're on corporate IT lockdown); or you have to do what I have to do, which is...bring your Mac to work and use something like OpenOffice 3.0 to open the file and save it as an older version .doc file.  How crazy is that work process? 

I mean...what are all those people without Macs gonna do?

Reader Bankruptcy

It's been at least a week since I've had internet access.  For the week before that I didn't have much time to check my blog feeds.  So now I'm faced with insurmountable Google Reader "debt".  I'll have to put myself on some sort of "payment plan" that I can manage.  Or do I just claim feed bankruptcy and let all the useful information go completely unheeded?

We're Back

Well we made it back to the States yesterday, and back to our house today, after two weeks in South Africa with Sunette's family.  Unfortunately I haven't had internet access since last Thursday morning so I wasn't able to post for the last few days while we were down there and the two or three days we were traveling. 

We had a phenomenal time while we were there.  As you can see from the previous posts, we visited a few game reserves, hiked around Hogsback and then Sunette's sister got married the Saturday before we left.  I'll post some pictures from the wedding below.  Keep in mind, I wasn't the hired photographer so I was going after the shots that he wasn't there to take.   

It was a lovely outdoor wedding; a beautiful bride and handsome groom, perfect setting, perfect weather and a hopping dinner and reception.  Sunette and I took ballroom dancing lessons to prepare since the new husband and wife are phenomenal ballroom dancers.  Needless to say the DJ didn't quite play the same kind of music that we had practiced to.  So can you guess which person at the dinner decided to break the ice a bit by providing a firm demonstration of the Tootsie Roll.  Yeah, being the only American there, I had to represent.  Needless to say the party and the dance floor loosened up a bit after that.

All in all, it was a fantastic time.  I pictured it being essentially a photo expedition and that's exactly what it was, from capturing nature and animals to weddings and receptions.  I definitely learned a few tricks and I feel like I got some great images from the trip.

Can I say that we missed Elliot something fierce?  Luckily we were able to video Skype with him while we were there, which made it much easier to be away for so long.  Now we're back home as one big ol' happy family.  I'm sure the routine is just around the corner, but we'll see if we can fend it off for a few more days at least. 

Addo Pt. 2

We're winding up our last day here in Hogsback before heading to Jo'burg for Sunette's sister's wedding.  We'll be in Jo'burg for the weekend, then we fly back stateside on Monday.  We're supposed to arrive in Atlanta on Tuesday night. 

We've had a great last few days, going on a nice long hike yesterday and having a lazy day today.  I've taken a few decent shots in the past couple of days, but they'll have to wait 'til tomorrow or the next day to post.  It's been a little chilly these last few days, about 50 degrees or so during the day.  Tonight we're huddled up around a fire, reading, drinking coffee and eating Brandy Tart.  Mmmmmmmm.  Needless to say, I didn't lose any weight on this trip for sure. 

As promised, here are some shots from Sunday in Addo Elephant Park.  I'll continue to post shots I've taken over the last few days, but my internet access may be limited a bit.  We'll see. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of these shots are from when we stumbled on a herd of about 40 elephants at a watering hole late Sunday afternoon.  We sat and watched them for almost 2 hours.  That's a lot of elephants.

Addo Pt. 1

I'm going to break this photo set up into two posts since there are a bunch. Again, Sunette and I were in Addo Elephant Park on Saturday and Sunday to view the wildlife. It covers over 405,000 acres and is home to over 400 elephants, black rhino, lions, and a whole bunch of other stuff. You basically are driving through the bush hoping to come across a few animals. They do have watering holes which are always good places to catch a glimpse. Here are some shots from Saturday. I'll post Sunday's tomorrow.

Edit:  My blogging software, MarsEdit, is driving me a little batty.  It's screwing with my categories and not posting the pics correctly.  Hmmmm....