Saturday, May 31, 2008

Trivia Night

Julie's work is having a trivia night. Should be a good time. We went to Biggies for dinner. No kids just us. It was fun. It was good. We're happy. Trivia will be fun.

I'm sick of storms. I hate rain.

Bye.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Pet Peeves


  • Office politics
  • Linux zealotry
  • High handicappers who insist on playing from the back tees
  • Billy Mays
  • Hotties who refuse to show some skin
  • Bigotry
  • People who pretend they know what they're talking about
  • People who talk on the phone while driving
  • People who don't use their blinker
  • People who don't check their blindspot
  • Kanadians
  • Greg (see Kanadians)
  • People who think weed is a "drug"
  • Litigiousness
  • The wealthy who think they're better than I because they're rich
  • The poor who refuse to get a job because they'll lose their welfare
  • Kanadians
  • Crimes against the state
  • Liberal tax increases
  • Spam
  • SPAM
  • Ignorance
  • Dumb people
  • Speed traps in the name of revenue
  • .08 instead of .10 (See "revenue")
  • Greg


In the end we'll die anyway.

Have a nice weekend!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Happy Birthday Poopy! (Happy New Year Too!)

My baby sister turns 17 today. Everyone say it with me. 1, 2, 3... Happy Birthday Poopy!

Also on the Kelley calendar this is a new year. Memorial day marks the beginning of the new year in the Kelley house. Yeah I know I'm weird. But it's my favorite weekend of the year and the world seems changed after Memorial day. It's a new beginning. Let's hope this is better than last year. And the year before.

I did a brisket (sp?) yesterday. It smoked for about 8 hours. It was awesome. I took the spices that I used in my rub and made it the spices for my BBQ sauce. It was really one of my better BBQ's. I'm quite proud of the results. Julie's family was over for the BBQ. They all enjoyed it. There's obviously no brisket left. :)

Kanadians love enemas.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

I'm Glad I'm 30

Yeah. I'm glad I'm 30. I'm old enough to have owned some vinyl. But also I'm young enough to be alive.

Last night I watched some of The Decline of the Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. I don't know why. I was just Googling around and decided to watch some of it. It's been years since I've seen it.

If I were older than 30 I wouldn't be alive right now. I would have died of a smack overdose on the Sunset Strip.

Yeah I'm serious. No doubt about it if I were 10 years older I would have wound up in LA on the Strip in the 80's. And I don't have the self control to keep myself in check. I would have died of an OD or some other kind of rockstar-like death.

I'm glad I'm 30.

Friday, May 23, 2008

OBTW, Have I Mentioned This?

2 year olds are a pain in the ass.

(So is Greg)

(So is Kanadia)

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Parents of Children with Cancer Commonly Have PTSD Symptoms

http://www.cancerpage.com/news/article.asp?id=9051

Copy of the article:

NEW YORK NOV 11, 2005 (Reuters Health) - Most parents of children undergoing cancer treatment report posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, according to a report in the October 20th Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Symptoms of PTSD have been reported in parents of children who have completed treatment for cancer, the authors explain, but it remains unclear when PTSD symptoms arise during the course of treatment.

Dr. Anne E. Kazak and colleagues from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania used the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (PTSD-RI) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) to evaluate PTSD symptoms in 119 mothers and 52 fathers of 171 children in current treatment for a pediatric malignancy. Overall participant rate was 78.6%.

The mean PTSD-RI scores for mothers and fathers were within the range of moderate PTSD, the authors report. All but one parent reported symptoms consistent with at least mild PTSD.

More than two thirds of the mothers and 57% of the fathers had PTSD within the moderate-to-severe range, the results indicate. In families in which both parents participated in the survey, 79.2% had at least one parent with moderate-to-severe PTSD.

Only rarely did both parents report severe symptoms, and it was uncommon for both parents to report mild PTSD.

Treatment intensity was not associated with distress level for mothers or fathers, the researchers note, but there was a low-magnitude negative association between the length of time since their child's diagnosis and the level of PTSD.

"These data raise complex issues regarding the meaning of elevated PTSD symptoms during treatment," the investigators write. "Given the high rate of prevalence of PTSD symptoms, for example, it would be inappropriate to assume that PTSD symptoms indicate psychiatric impairment. They are, for many, part of the process of responding and reacting to one's circumstances and may be adaptive in certain ways."

"Knowledge and attention to PTSD symptoms can lead to more appropriate multidisciplinary care of the patient and family," the authors conclude.

"Early identification of at-risk families may promote the development and evaluation of effective brief treatments. By helping caregivers address their own psychological well-being, we may be best assuring that the psychological needs of the patients are also met."

"Brief and efficacious treatments have been developed to assist parents in adjusting to their child's diagnosis and treatment, and effective psychological treatments for posttraumatic disorders have been developed," writes Dr. Sharon Manne from Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, in a related editorial.

"Traditional evaluations of parent distress should be broadened to include assessment of traumatic stress responses, and parents should be screened routinely and offered evidence-based psychosocial care when they experience severe levels of traumatic stress symptomatology," Dr. Manne concludes.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Happy (Late) Birthday Becky

My little cousin would be.. Hmm.. 27? I think 27. Her birthday was yesterday. We lost her about a year ago to cancer.

Becky had neurofibromatosis (sp?). Generically speaking you could say she was mentally retarded. So she's been somewhat special all her life. But ya know, we never really treated her differently. We treated her like Becky. Just like we treat Greg like Greg. Or Joey like Joey. Of course when we were kids we picked on her but that's just because she was the only girl.

Becky LOVED Minnie Mouse. She loved Apple Pucker. She loved going to the boat. She loved her grandmother. She loved going to the boat with her grandmother. She would never admit it but she loved her family and family functions. She loved country music. She loved life.

We miss having Becky around. It's just not the same without her. It's not Christmas without Becky's "Merry Fucking Christmas!"

Happy fucking birthday Becky. I'm sure Grandma took you to the boat up in heaven for your birthday.

BTW, I'm sorry to hear about Sen. Kennedy. Nobody deserves to go through what he's getting ready to go through. He'll be in our thoughts and prayers.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Another Joke....

A guy walks into a bar, puts Dokken on the jukebox, and orders a bag of Munchos, quiche, and a Rockstar energy drink.

The bartender looks at Greg and says, "Sorry, we don't serve Kanadians here."

So Greg turned to the guy next to him and asked him out on a date.

Ok not much of a joke. But it was a true story. Greg did, in fact, go out on the date with the guy in the bar. They ate quiche.

Monday, May 19, 2008

PCTSD

I'm coining a new term. PCTSD. Post cancer treatment stress disorder.

I've mentioned that parents of cancer survivors sometimes experience signs of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I think I'm starting to fall into this. I'll call it PCTSD for lack of a better term.

Adding geographic distance between Andy and myself seems to make it worse. Twice I've been more than 100 miles from Andy and twice it's really really REALLY bothered me.

As you know we were in Tunica for a 3-day weekend. It's just south of Memphis. You know what's in Memphis, right? St. Jude! THE children's hospital in the US.

I didn't play much blackjack but I was sitting down at a table Friday evening and a guy next to me was talking about his wife's crazy working hours. I casually asked what she does. She's an oncology nurse at St. Jude. That was enough to trigger my PCTSD.

I'm in a weird place. I'm not depressed. I'm actually feeling less stressed than I have in years. Yet there's something wrong mentally. Again I'll call it PCTSD. There are some mental things that need to be fixed. And until these are fixed I think my abdominal issues will continue. In fact my doctor has even told me as much.

Remember how strong I was during Andy's treatment? Now that he's better I guess it's gone. Although it bothered me, I would give him a shot and hook him up to a home IV pump that provided his nutrition and not even think twice about it. Now I hear Julie mention to her mom that Andy is "used to sleeping off pain" and it screws me up for hours.

I'm going to get in touch with the social worker who worked with us throughout Andy's treatment. She's mentioned that this is common.

Back to work.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

We're Home!

Just a quick note. We're home. We're tired. Mississippi is still spelled Mississippi. More later, I'm gonna go pass out for a bit.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Happy Anniversary!

Yup. Going to Pueblo Solis for dinner tonight, then heading to Tunica with Kanadian & his wife for a 3-day weekend. We'll have to find Ba.

Ba. A good guy, Ba is.

Ba is the most famous Kenyan to ever grace the state of Mississippi. We all miss Ba. We will find Ba.

Anyway, happy anniversary Julie!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Billboard Proof

Attached is a proof of Andy's billboard. Too cute! (click it for a larger image)

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Andy's Billboards

If you're driving around and see a billboard for Cardinal Glennon with a little boy in a car, that's Andy! In particular I-44WB at Kingshighway, left side of the highway, I-55SB at Gasconade, left side of the highway, or somewhere on I-64 in IL coming into St. Louis.

Jeez, he's a brat!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

WWII Vets

Of the 16 million WWII vets, only 2 million remain today. About 1200 die every day.

They didn't just save this country they saved the world.

Thank them before it's too late. Remember when we were kids and the WWI vets were dying out? It's happening again with WWII.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Mic Preamp Specs

I think there's an audiophile or 2 listening. So now its time to brag.

I've finished designing my mic preamp on paper. Gonna order some parts and build a prototype.

So basically here's all of the specs on it:

Power Supply: 15VAC, low ripple, low noise. It will feed 48 for phantom power as well as, obviously, powering the preamp circuits. It will have a seperate auxiliary power for "noisy" things like LEDs and such.

Backplane: I'm making a modular preamp. Essentially the chassis will consist of the power supply and that's about it. Each module will plug into the backplane with a 15-pin connector.

Back panel: Each module will have an XLR in and 1/4" phone out. The in is "mic level" (see below) and the out is line-level.

Front panel: Each module will have:
- Level: The final level out
- Gain: The mic gain. The sound will be a function of gain and level of course.
- Input Impedence: 500-ohm or 2K-ohm.
- +48V Phantom Power
- High pass (select to cut at 160Hz or 1KHz)
- Low pass (select to cut at 160Hz or 1KHz)
- LED VU bar
- Clip LED

I'm going to put it all in a 2U rackmount enclosure with enough spots for up to 16 mics. I expect each module to cost me about $10 - $20 in parts, so no need to go straight to the 16.

I'm really excited to put the thing together. I look forward to doing the build. I'm coming in with a 15VAC AC/AC adapter because, well frankly I'm not comfortable doing the transformer / mains thing. Scares the hell outta me to be honest.

When all is said and done, I'll have a studio-quality preamp that would probably cost a good $10,000 if I were to buy retail. No exaggeration.

Next will be my mixer. I'm looking forward to that too. :)

Loogie

It's been quite a while since I've posted an update in regards to Loogie, the dog with intestines of steel. Really he's been kinda quiet lately. He finally polished off the slat of fence. He's eaten a couple pairs of jeans. Maybe at his old age pica just isn't as fun anymore.

But for whatever reason his tradition is alive and well. From out of nowhere, Joey, Emma, or I will say, "If Louie were here, do you think he'd eat _____?" Then someone else will jump in, "Oh yeah! Hey, if Louie were here, do you think he'd eat the TV?" "Yeah. If Louie were here, you think he'd eat the ceiling fan?" Etc etc.

It drives Julie nuts. Which, of course, is why we do it. :)

In other news, Joey told me last night that I look like Peter Griffin. Not sure how to take that.

If Louie were here, you think he'd eat Greg's manpurse?

Monday, May 5, 2008

Another Good Birthday

Busy birthday season for the Kelleys!

Julie's birthday went well. She hung out with some of her friends Friday evening. We went out for an awesome dinner then to a local neighborhood bar on Saturday. We were joined by good friends. Sunday was her actual birthday and it was at her mom's. Julie is an awesome cook and it's because she learned from her mother. Her sister made a really good sugar-free cake out of Diet Pepsi! I tell ya what, when a Gambill girl makes food, it's awesome!

The kids had a great time too. Joey continues to amaze me with his batting. I was throwing some "fastballs" past him. Not reall fast but faster than he should be able to handle. He turned on a couple and killed them.

While this was going on I managed to get the front porch steps / stringers replaced. This is a good thing.

So now it's Monday. Back to work.

Have a great week everyone! (except Greg)

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Happy Birthday Julie!

Julie's 39 today.

No. She's 28.

But it's fun to say she's 39.

Happy birthday!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Third

The new Portishead CD came out Tuesday. It's weird even for Portishead.

Not really so much downtempo like their old stuff. And they didn't do too much with vinyl this time.

Once you've listened to it a couple of times it grows on you. But you can tell the smoking is starting to take its toll on Beth's voice.

Chill out. Pretend you're back in college again. Smoke / drop / eat whatever psychedelic pleases you. Grab a good import beer. Listen to Third.