This summer has been one of just waiting. Waiting on doctors, hospitals, school districts, principals, universities, admissions directors.
The gory, boring details of my medical situation were recounted in «this previous post from a year-and-a-half ago». Here’s an update:
I have a saline suppression test (the third one I will have done) scheduled for 3-Aug; the posture test should follow soon thereafter. Saline suppression involves lying flat for four hours while saline is pumped in intravenously and my aldosterone levels are measured. The posture test involves standing and walking around for two …

And now two right-wing terrorists have committed two political murders in two weeks. First Dr. Tiller in Wichita, a murder which was, from the point of view of the terrorists, successful in its aims. Now, an obscene attack on the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum begs the question, are we in for a Summer of Rage?
Researcher Chip Berlet «notes where we are at the moment»:
Apocalyptic aggression is fueled by right-wing pundits who demonize scapegoated groups and individuals in our society, implying that it is urgent to stop them from …

With a (mostly meaningless) addition, Gov. John Lynch is set to make New Hampshire the sixth of the 50 states to acknowledge equal protection under the law and Constitution this week:
‘Gov. John Lynch will sign a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, he announced yesterday – but only if the Legislature passes extra protections for religious groups and their employees, allowing them to steer clear of weddings that contradict their beliefs. If not, Lynch said, he would veto the bill.
‘Lynch’s proposed language would allow religious groups and their employees to decline to …

It’s tentative and fragile, but «Maine added itself» to the list of states willing to uphold equal protection under the rule of law and the United States Constitution:
‘In a banner day in New England for advocates of gay marriage, Maine legalized the practice Wednesday, and the New Hampshire Legislature voted to do the same. Maine Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat, signed LD 1020 shortly after the legislation passed the Senate with a 21-13 vote — a margin not large enough to override a veto.
Gov. Baldacci sums it up simply and …

The story of the United States of America joining the long and black list of nations who abuse and torture prisoners and then invent all sorts of justifications for it is dribbling out slowly. «A new article in Newsweek» is one of the best I’ve seen so far at laying out both the nitty-gritty and some of the bigger cultural issues at play.
The article centers on the story of Ali Soufan, one of the FBI’s top experts on Al Qaeda who also ‘had a reputation as a shrewd interrogator who …

Sad news today: «Bea Arthur passed away at 86 from cancer»:
‘Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows “Maude” and “The Golden Girls” and who won a Tony Award for the musical “Mame,” died Saturday. She was 86. Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, Watt said, declining to give details.
…
‘Maude” scored with television viewers immediately on its CBS debut in September …

Said President Obama at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual ‘Days of Remembrance’ ceremony in commemoration of the victims of Fascism:
“To this day, there are those who insist the Holocaust never happened – who perpetrate every form of intolerance — racism, antisemitism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, and more — hatred that degrades its victim and diminishes us all. Today, and every day we have an opportunity, as well as an obligation to confront these scourges. To fight the impulse to turn the channel when we see images that disturb us, or …

The governor of Connecticut signed «marriage equality into law today». Equal protection under the law as provided in the U.S. Constitution was thereby affirmed by all three branches of the government.
‘Four years ago this week, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed a bill allowing civil unions. Today, with the stroke of a pen, she abolished them. Rell this afternoon signed Senate Bill 899, which incorporates the findings of the Kerrigan case into Connecticut statutes. That ruling, handed down by the state Supreme Court in October, paved the way for same-sex marriage. …

It’s a great title for a great «column». Frank Rich of the New York Times sums up very thoroughly and very presciently the status of one of America’s favorite Culture War battlegrounds/sports grounds in which people like us are kicked around like political footballs (cartoon at left is from 2004, Steve Kelley of the New Orleans Times-Picayune).
Rich, who has long been a voice of reason and sanity in insane Bush world, starts by highlighting the hugely laughable and inept so-called ‘national organization for marriage’ gathering storm video, noting that the …

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced that Germany will join the U.S., Israel and other countries in a «boycott» of the upcoming United Nations World Conference Against Racism after “a draft declaration circulated earlier this year made Israel responsible for the entire Middle East conflict, while human rights violations in Muslim countries were largely ignored.”
Preparations for the conference have been “dominated by Libya, Cuba, and Iran.” Holocaust Denier and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to address the conference tomorrow, 20-April, the 120th anniversary of Hitler’s birth.
Italy, Canada and Austria …

I’m reading, and enjoying, a new book: «Dog On It». I usually confine my mystery reading to James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books, but I made an exception for this one, because the twist is that it’s told from the private eye’s dog’s perspective. Chet is a police dog helping his buddy find a missing girl. It appears to be the start of a series.

Finally posted some «new pics on Flickr» of the boys. Whatta buncha beagles!

News in this neck of the woods is pretty mundane:
More beagle escapes (fifth, I think), necessitating the expenditure and labor of putting up a new chain link fence to isolate half of the backyard.
Application almost complete for Vanderbilt’s special ed master’s program.
Storm front moved through today; several thousand people just south of us without power, high winds, but no tornadoes or thunder. Oklahoma City hit; Lone Grove smacked, with eight dead.
That is all.

One week from tonight, we will have begun our journey out of California … for the third, and hopefully last, time.
We’ll be on our way to Nashville, Tennessee, to take up a new, and hopefully less stressful way of life. Frank starts a new job with Vanderbilt University on 15 Dec. I will start the Tennessee teacher certification process and then look for a new job of my own, hopefully with grades K-2, nothing higher than that.
The last two years and four months here in California have been a real …

Pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the weather this week. It actually got hotter after I took this picture; it was 114 degrees later in the afternoon.

Gavin Newsom, the man who presided over our first civil union ceremony when he was still a San Francisco supervisor, wants to get a jump on gay marriages «the evening of 16 June», instead of waiting for the next morning:

‘San Francisco officials have asked the state for permission to begin marrying same-sex couples a little earlier than scheduled, on the evening of June 16 instead of the morning of June 17. Mayor Gavin Newsom and other city officials are wondering when the state Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex nuptials …

«Daryl Cagle, MSNBC»
Every once in awhile, every great once in awhile, I … sort of like the «state of California»:

‘The California Supreme Court struck a historic but possibly short-lived blow for gay rights Thursday, overturning a state law that allowed only opposite-sex couples to marry. In a 4-3 ruling that elicited passionate responses on both sides of the debate and touched off celebrations at San Francisco City Hall – the scene of nearly 4,000 same-sex weddings four years ago that were invalidated months later – the court said the right …

As the sun sets on what was a truly nasty year for us, we wish you a much more wonderful 2008!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Not sure why I’m even noting this, but it did catch my eye. Among the «5,000 most common names according to the 2000 US Census», Frank has a more common surname than I do.
Our names: Lester (his) is 709th, down 111 places, 16 occurrences per 100,000 names. Mine, Pollock, is 1,420th, up 20 places, 9 occurrences per 100,000 names.
Maiden names: My mother’s (Booth) is 635th, down 45, 18 occurrences per 100,000. Frank’s mother’s (Celis) doesn’t show up in the top 5000.
Other names in my family tree:
• Nelson: 40th, down …

Frank and I can relate (he’s the dog heading for the floor to get away from his snoring husband).

What was originally described on local radio as a spill amounting to just “140 gallons of bunker oil” following the ramming of the Bay Bridge by a container ship last week rapidly turned into 58,000 gallons of oil spilled into San Francisco Bay, which will have «long-lasting effects»:

‘A major oil spill is making San Francisco Bay look like a dirty bathtub, and the ring of black that soils the shoreline is likely to pose dire consequences for birds, mice, ducks, fish and the smallest of aquatic creatures for years to …

Just felt my … fourth (? yeah, fourth) … California earthquake. «A 5.6 which was reportedly on the Calaveras Fault five miles from Alum Rock, near San Jose» (Link no longer active. —Ed.).
Frank and I were sitting on the couch with Fergus, who was … well, cleaning himself in a delicate spot, shall we say … and we felt the couch move back and forth for awhile. We thought it was the dog, but David came down the stairs and asked if we felt it. It shook things upstairs. That’s …

I accepted a job today in a district a couple of cities away. It came out of the blue, all of a sudden. Starting 21-Aug, I’ll be a sixth grade math and science teacher at a junior high school a couple of cities over. It’s an interesting, unique, and potentially very beneficial opportunity, and I’m grateful to have a chance at it.

Since we moved to Brentwood just last 24-Jul (was it just 10 short months ago?!), the following has happened, in no particular chronological order:
•My dog has been poisoned and died;
•My partner has been viciously attacked by a police dog while standing lawfully in the middle of our living room (eight stitches, by the way; more on this later … much more);
•My career has been derailed by an illness which has been made much more frustrating by the lack of doctors and hospitals and sane healthcare practices in the area;
•My career …