A Rant

I'm in a rather frustrated mood tonight so of course I'm going to write. And publish. I'm officially tired of politics. I'm tired of national primaries, I'm tired of local politics, I'm tired of the stupid decisions that keep being passed into law, and more than anything I'm tired of unwillingness of any politician to compromise. Or even talk logically. 

I'm inundated with media that pushes the fanatics to the front and center. I hear yelling, not discourse. I hear name-calling when I should hear logic. And I hear a lot of people talking out of their asses. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of seeing legislation that has no place in our society. The whole idea of the Bill of Rights was granting rights. Not taking it away. 

So I'm chucking it all. I'm checking out of this political game. I'm tired of hearing it so I'm going to turn off my TV. I'm going to stay away from news sites. I'm going to read my books and write stories and wait for the world to become sane again. I'm going to practice common courtesy in my own life. I'm going to continue to be a vegetarian and live my principles. I'm going to be nice and polite and a good citizen. And when the idiots up in Washington or up on the hill figure out how to act like human beings again, perhaps I'll start paying attention. But until then I guarantee I'll be in a better mood. 

Bears and Seals and Deer, Oh My

I need a cleansing post after my last one on Keystone. As you know I'm an animal lover and I love heartwarming animal stories. So many of the stories we normally hear in the news are bad for animals but these last couple weeks have been fantastic. There have been a ton of sweet wildlife stories in the news recently. From the bear that took a ride on the garbage truck in Vancouver. To the bear found in a New Jersey basement. Both were captured and released without any harm.

There was the recent story of a New Zealand woman who came home to find a baby fur seal napping in her living room. The seal had apparently crawled out of the sea, crossed a busy highway, into the yard, through a cat door, and up some stairs to find the living room. There it had made itself comfortable on one of the sofas for a little nap. The woman was obviously shocked but quickly fell in love with the seal. The NZ Department of Conservation was called and the seal was captured and released into the sea without harm.

But my favorite story from the week was the Alaska Quest Charters captain who found himself in an interested position when four deer swam to his boat in the middle of Taku Inlet and wanted to board. He was in the middle of a chartered cruise but still pulled each of the deer onto the vessel. He turned the boat back to the shore and when he landed the deer got up and wandered off the dock and into the woods. The youngest deer had some issues getting back up after the exhausting swim and was helped off the boat in a wheelbarrow. After a period of time it too ran off into the woods. The event actually happened in October of last year but it has just started making the internet rounds. My sister posted it to Facebook yesterday and I immediately had to steal it. I love those kind of stories. Like the story last year of a firefighter giving a koala water after an Australian blaze, these stories reaffirm my faith in humanity. I hope 2012 is filled with them.

Good Health News

This break has been one of the most difficult and frustrating things in my life. I don't even want to admit the number of times that I've thought about just staying in and not leave the house for the next couple months. I've thought about never leaving the couch unless I had to. I've been in pain, afraid, and frustrated by hauling myself around on my hands. I've nearly fallen from the crutches hundreds of times. Anyone who tells you that crutches are no big deal is lying...or selling you something.

But with all this frustrating something else has happened. I'm amazed at how easily I can be made happy. The first time I dressed myself with the boot on was a moment of joy. The first time I opened a door on my own I was texting Jeff to share my excitement. When I first learned the step to get into the house, I was practically in tears with joy. I've become easy to please.

And today was a great day. I went to the doctor and finally got my staples out. The wounds are healing well and soon I won't be needing gauze or the ace bandage. But even better news was that I can start bending my ankle. In fact I should be working nightly to bend and flex the foot to improve mobility. The first time the doctor helped me bend my foot back felt bizarre. Apparently my ankle has forgotten how to move.

And that wasn't even the best news. The big thing is that I can finally start putting weight on the foot. I'm shocked!!! Two weeks after surgery and I can start putting 10-20 pounds on the foot. That's enough to use my leg to steady myself. I'm four legged now. And I'm so thankful. It took Jeff months before he could step on his foot again (he didn't have surgery) and I'm starting to walk after just two weeks. I could have kissed my doctor when he said it. And I'm on a perpetual high today. Yesterday I hardly left the couch if I didn't have to (I've been having a lot of pain in my hands) and today I'm up and moving as often as possible. I would say that I'm easy to please but this was just way too good of information. I feel like I'm really on the road to recovery now.

Panicking

Part of my job is to read the news. Daily. I have a couple different news sources that I use every morning to try to keep up with the economic situation around the country. It's one of my favorite and least favorite parts of my job. Favorite because I get to learn a ton of new things each morning, least favorite because I don't really find business all that exciting.

But the big news today, as it has been for the last week, is swine flu. Everyone is talking about swine flu and I am starting to see the beginning of a panic. I read at least 20 headlines, from three different news agencies about the disease. Pictures of people all over the world in masks. And I just laugh. We work ourselves up over everything don't we? Does anyone remember Avian Bird Flu? The one that was supposed to wipe huge chunks of the population. Yeah, what happened to that one? Or the threat of biological warfare that never really materialized? People were stocking up on duct tape and bottled water preparing for the ultimate catastrophe.

So let's breakdown this illness. There are 20 confirmed cases in Mexico, with 80 more possibly linked to the disease. There have been 20 cases in the US, 6 in Canada, and 1 in Spain. Out of 6.5 billion people! Suddenly less than 50 cases and it's a global pandemic. For most of the people outside of Mexico, they have had flu-like symptoms for a couple days and recovered without issue. Hmmmm yeah this one sounds terrible. Why are we so afraid of the flu? Every year people rush to get their flu shots with the worry that the flu is coming. I've had the flu. It sucks, but it's not deadly. (Please note that the Influenza of 1918 is exempt from this. That actually was a pandemic) Has anyone thought to question that rural Mexico has less advanced medical treatments? No wonder the people are dying. Anywhere else, and we have a couple days in bed, maybe at worst some hacking coughs and dehydration and then back to work as usual.

I know I'm ranting and I'm sorry for that. It just floors me that we work ourselves up into a tizzy over these diseases. So in honor of Swine Flu, I think we should start the Panic of the Month club. Each month we'll find which issue has everyone panicking. Last month it was Salmonella in the peanut butter. This month Swine Flu. I can't wait to see what next month brings.

Wonderous Wildlife

I both love and dread animal news. So much of the news tends to be terrible. We do some awful things to animals. And so many of these stories make me angry. But these past two days have been great for animal stories. Particularly water-based animals.

In Thailand a 770 pound stingray was caught. This amazing animal was brought up using a fishing pole and required the strength of 13 men. I would have stopped reading there, thinking this was a commercial fisherman and that the animal had been killed but I kept going. This angler was part of a tagging program. This huge (7ft by 7ft) female was tagged and returned to the wild which is a wonderful thing since she was pregnant. Imagine a whole family of these beautiful creatures gliding soundlessly over the bottom of the ocean. I've been diving with rays and they are unbelievable beautiful in their element. As one gliding below me I held my breath and watched it for as long as I could. I could have reached down and easily touched it. It was a magical moment. And to see an animal like this brought in and then returned is wonderful.

The octopus was not nearly as nice but still an interesting story. An octopus at the Santa Monica Aquarium decided that it was tired of the water pipe that fed water into its tank. It used one of its powerful tenticles to push the tube out of the cage, slowly flooding the aquarium floor with water. Unfortunately it was a brand new floor and it might not be salvagable. But think of how incredible this story is. This tiny little creature (only a pound or two) was smart enough to figure out how to solve its own problem. In high school I helped out in a marine biology lab here in town and there was an ongoing mystery. Fish kept disappearing from the tanks. At night they would count the fish and the next morning some would be gone. We had no idea what was happening. So one night they finally caught the culpret. The octopus in one of the rows was sneaking out of its tank, into nearby ones, and eating the fish. Then returning to its own tank. Yeah they are that smart!!

And of course my favorite animal story of the last two weeks has to be Sam the koala. This image above completely reaffirmed my faith in humanity. The video does it even more as firefighter David Tree scrambles to find water for the koala. This random act of kindness fills me with joy and hope that we sometimes remember that these creatures are our neighbors. I hope to see more stories like these three. Although perhaps with a little less flooding.