New Year, new person

Bulbino

Happy Boxing Day

the day after the night before for many. hope you head doesn't hurt too much and your vision isn't too blurry. i hope you had a christmas.

Captcha but no captcha

the happy day has passed and the loved up duo are now husband and wife.

BBFK may have captured the heart of Lever but he has no captcha image when leaving a comment, so i have to offer my congratulations to the transatlantic bloggers here.

i hope your wedding day in Canada went swimmingly (but not in niagra falls) and the rest of your days together will be full of bliss.

help a total stranger

question: what's worse than getting cancer? (sounds like the start of a bad joke i know, but bear with me).answer: getting cancer twice.

question: what's worse than getting cancer twice?

answer: getting cancer a third time.

imagine how getting leukemia in your teens could really put you off your stride. imagine getting rid of cancer and it coming back. imagine having cancer and continuing to work at your job (in a bank of all places). imagine having insurance, but still needing to pay $80k.

one person who doesn't need to imagine the above paragraph is Rachel Hunnicutt-Knight. she is going through it. you can help. you can also go back and play crappy games on facebook. helping would be much better though. imagine going to bed and lying down thinking "i performed an altruistic act today". like the episode of friends where Joey and Phoebe try and find a truly selfless act, you might get a good feeling.

don't worry about that.

if you can donate some money to help out, you can donate at Got-Marrow.org. the site was created by a friend of Rachel's family.

maybe it's a scam, i've heard about these things. scams exist. sad fact. some people are absolute bawbags, but i stake my reputation (for what it's worth) on the genuineness of Rachel's predicament. why? 2 blokes. Doc and Rob Jones. both stand up guys, more sensible than some shifty types you can find on forums. Doc is a rambling madman (his words) and addresses the repercussions of scams on genuine cases.

Rob Jones who made the Got-Marrow site isn't just some fly-by-night-cowboy either. he is a cowboy though. and he's older than than the internets.

if you've hung around forums such as digital point, v7n, or netbuilders, you will have probably run in to them at some point.

if you can't donate to help a total stranger, you still help by spreading the word, even posting on facebook.

you can also read Rachel's blog, it's a doable deal, and then she wont be a stranger to you.

Dream Bag

quick post asking for some help please. could you vote for my competition entry here if you like? i entered the competition to design a dream camera bag rather late, actually on the last day (today), but better late than never as they say.

one can win a bumper load of camera goodies and get their bag made for them, so again if you would be so kind i'd be much obliged.

link

Light in the Sky

a couple of hours ago i went outside for a breath of air and to peek at the stars. at that very moment on the tail end of ursa major, near the bright star arcturus, there was as bright light. initially it seemed like a star, then it moved so it seemed like a plane. too high up. a satellite probably.

if memory serves

i write probably because upon viewing one for the first time years ago, ideas of ufos filled my head (i want to believe). my uncle told me there's tons of them "up there" and took them for granted. viewing them up in Barra is easier and a more common experience as there is less light pollution. down nearer Glasgow, however, a glimpse of a satellite is a more seldom seen sight. seeing the light grow brighter and then dimmer is impressive; to think that there is a man made object tumbling around up there catching the rays of the sun and reflecting them back down to our eyes really is amazing.

imagine, if there are aliens. and they were visiting us, what would be the perfect disguise to go unoticed? disguise the spacecraft as a satellite of course! aliens could go unnoticed for absolutely ages before being rumbled. i like computers and alien movies but don't search for them like 'super hacker' gary mackinnon.

looking up just as a satellite is passing overhead makes me smile. as a black cat crossing your path is supposed to be unlucky, could we start a new superstition that a satellite crossing your path is lucky?

Something Beautiful

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Music:'Clementine' by Megan Washington

Swearing at Children

i swore at a child today. not my child though. does that make it okay?

not very grown up of me but i would probably do it again. losing one's temper isn't good but it was in defence of a loved one.

after making my way to a local supermarket to buy some cat food Moby, our cheeky little cat, had followed me further than his little legs should have. he can be quite dog-like following people. we were nearer the store than home and he had already crossed a busy road to get there so the decision was made to take him to, or near, the shop. while debating in my head whether he could be taken into the store (i imagine arguing with a manager and pointing to a no dogs allowed notice), the furry one stopped to play at a tree trunk. that was my chance to get out of his sight, shop, and get back before he noticed me gone.

by chance Bulbgirl was just entering the store too, as the gym had brought forward their opening hours and wouldn't let her in. we shopped but noticed a few kids, quite small, early teens maybe, creating havoc and mucking about, throwing empty boxes at each other, as if they owned the joint. we shopped quickly, left and got back to our boy.

he was pretty much in the same place waiting for me, but happy to see both of us, and followed us back to Bulbgirl's flat. i say followed, but it was more like running excitedly beside and by us, then hanging back for a bit interested in something eles. it was while he was lagging behind that the 4 or 5 bawbag kids got between us. Moby was unsure. but he approached. it was then that one of the girls stamped her foot and screamed at the poor poor pussycat. the other kids laughed. this bravado, and laddish behaviour, sparked something in my head.

what annoyed me most was that it was a little kid who did it. Bulbgirl (good cop) chided the offending little madam, and then myself (bad cop) said a bad word followed by a really, really bad word. i was suprised that i swore at a child. the girl was also informed that Moby was a "lovely little thing". the thought occurred to me to tell her how much joy he brings to everyone he meets and had the nicest nature of any feline myself or Bulbgirl has ever met, but the best way of encapsulating all that in a short amount of time was to use a 4 letter word while she gave me he best 'don't-care-nuffink-can-touch-me-soap-opera' face.

i don't know whether she will reflect on her behaviour and the reaction it caused later. doubt it but i hope so. anybody who shouts at a defenceless kitty cat deserves a dressing down. maybe it was the painful day i had, stabbing eye pains while at university today, but the same events would probably have unfolded had i been feeling fit and fine. is the mind numbing music from mind numbed kids on public transport, in shops, everywhere resulting in a self centred generation who care for neither man nor beast?


should it be okay to verbally abuse children if they are not your own and the aforementioned childred screamed at your pussy?

< /rant>

Balls Away

today was the first day of the year, and today was also Moby's first full day of having no balls. he was taken to the vet yesterday and "done". having been snipped and chipped, i thought he would be moping about and wondering where his gonads did go.


what prompted the castration was a cut on his paw pad. there was a little trailer of bloody footprint, which led up to the top of the white washing machine. there was a little flap of skin that had been ripped off, only a few millimetres, but it looked nasty. it reminded me of when i cut my finger a while back and fatty tissue was poking out. Moby, brave little soul that he is, seemed unperturbed by this. ti's but a flesh wound you could almost see dart across his eyes. to be on the safe side, a little bit of advice seemed in order, just to get the cat's cut paw all cleaned up.

sex drugs and rock 'n' roll

thinking forward about the new year, i wondered when the best time to get a cat snipped, and the vet informed me that it was at around 6 months of age. Moby is 7 months, oh dear. when would be good for the vet to book him in? i half expected the animal doctors to be taking a rest so was surprised that they said bring him in tomorrow (31st dec). no, too soon! give me time to get used to the idea.

like pulling an elastoplast off, though quicker is probably better. you don't has so much time to worry about things and just do it. plus, it's probably better to get them off when he hasn't actually used. them yet. today he was absolutely fine, rounding around the hall chasing a red laser beam like a thing possessed.

happy new year all things can only get better (for Moby at least).

Star Trekkin across the Universe

today marks my 33rd trip around our sun.

another scot trekking across the universe is not really scottish at all. Simon Pegg has come under some flack for his role of Scotty in the new star trek movie. this clip shows the old Spock:

it's hard to tell from that tiny clip if Pegg will be any good or not. he's been great in many other flicks so i'll hold back judgement til the film is out.

SOLD

success. Bulbgirl has sold her flat. in this time of financial uncertainty (when you can't trust banks and financial wizards with your cash who can you trust?) she was lucky to have been offered pretty close to what she wanted for it. the deal is now done, the payment has gone through and the new owner has moved in.


apart from a text from him about how to use the oven (he's a man), he must be pretty happy with it. well we did leave it in pretty good nick, left spare lightbulbs, left a new smoke alarm (Bulbgirl thought that this would be a good idea as he has kids), and a bundle of other small details lovingly attended to.

no thanks to the estate agent though. Bulbgirl went with a local estate agent because she thought she'd get some foot-fall past their local branch, but i think most people search for a property online these days (listed on gspc.co.uk for our area). this is done by the estate agents, although they managed to cock that up too. the number on the final documents from the estate agent was back to front. this wouldn't have been too much of a problem, even on a legal document. the dodgy bit was that the number of the flat listed was also on the market at the same time, and being sold by the same estate agent! this could be attributed to a simple typo mistake, but when you are dealing with items that cost a lot (eg. houses, homes and flats) double and triple checking facts would be in order. especially when not many properties are selling, you'd think they would have plenty of time for fact checking.

i took the photos, Bulbgirl had to correct numerous errors that they forgot to put on the web, and even when it did sell they didn't put a sold notice on the gspc site. it didn't even get an under offer notice on it. after all the stress of putting it up for sale Bulbgirl wanted that most of all. well second most of all is suppose, she did get it sold.

how long do you think it will take for the housing market to pick up again?

Election Dance Off

this has to be seen to be believed.

obama vs mccain

post election edit: i guess Obama had better moves.

I want to kill myself

i want to kill myself. not the happiest thought in the world but there you go. can't say it hasn't popped into my head more than a few times.

why would i want to pop my own clogs? well, chronic pain gets you down. it's hard to communicate to someone who hasn't experienced it, even doctors. they just seem to want to hand out pills and that's you. they feel they have done their job, but you still have to go on hurting. it seemed sensible. i'm only 32 now and have been having various pains for 5 years, why should i go on hurting for the forseeable future? bleak maybe, but when you talk to an 83 year old and he seems fitter than you with no pain except a 'little loss of feeling in his feet due to diabetes,' i think bleakness was warranted.




having doctors look at you and say 'well you look pretty fit' doesn't help matters. the thought occurs to you that maybe it's in your head. random disparate symptoms that seem unconnected seem to attract the wonderful diagnosis of fibromyalgia. that never sat well with me, so the search went on.

fibromyalgia led to hypermobility which led to London which led to a diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, an incurable connective tissue disorder. yay.

knowing is better than not knowing. having a diagnosis is a great thing, having been in limbo for half a decade with chiropractors quite willing to just keep taking my money. i'm sure there are many good ones out there, but when a patient doesn't get better and actually gets worse, you have to wonder how they sleep at night.

knowing what i have at least gives some guidelines on how to live my life better with less pain and who knows, maybe even some painkillers that will work and have no side effects. what's more is a renewed focus. not having to search for an answer to that, i can have another goal: back to uni to study a post grad.

maybe there is too much to do to bump oneself off just yet.

:)

I Know What I Am

i'm a mutant.

after years of various pains, i finally have a diagnosis: ehlers-danlos syndrome.

not entirely unexpected but still a little surprising. a rheumatologist told me that i was hypermobile last year. i eventually got an appointment down in London last week with professor Rodney Grahame of university college hospital.

the professor spent over an hour with me! Bulbgirl, who accompanied me down south, said that a couple of people in the waiting room were annoyed at the delay. as i had come down from Glasgow the prof must have spent a little extra time with me.

are you aware that there is a hypermobility clinic in Glasgow? he asked me. i'd heard rumour of a pain clinic, but one would have imagined that the rheumatologist i'd seen might have mentioned this little fact. i'm still glad we went down to London and that the leading doctor in this disorder gave me the diagnosis.

even all the experts don't agree. some call it JHS (joint hypermobility syndrome), BJHS (benign joint hypermobility syndrome), EDS, HEDS, HMS, EDS3. it gets all very confusing.

wiki ehlers-danlos sydrome. hypermobility (type 3)

Affects 1 in 10,000 to 15,000 and is caused by an autosomal dominant mechanism. Mutations in either of two separate genes (which are also involved in Vascular EDS and Tenascin-X deficiency EDS, respectively) may lead to this variant; it is the only type of EDS that cannot be diagnosed through skin / tissue samples but is rather diagnosed through use of clinical observations. Symptoms can include easy bruising, velvety-smooth skin, mildly hyperextensible skin, and loose, unstable joints. Joint dislocations and subluxations are common. Degenerative joint disease can occur; the pain associated with this condition is a serious complication. Some individuals have mitral valve prolapse, which creates an increased risk for infective endocarditis during surgery, particularly dental surgery, as well as possibly progressing to a life-threatening degree of severity of the prognosis of mitral valve prolapse.

when telling professor Grahame that my rheumatologist put me on the list for genetic testing, he said but there isn't a genetic test for your type yet. he knew his stuff far more than anyone i've met up until now. i could have talked to him all day.

i love the X-men movies. it's a little unfair that my special mutant power is chronic pain. adamantium claws, or being able to control the weather would be much more fun.

Bulbcat #4

meet Moby, our latest addition. he is nearly 17 weeks old, and we got him when he was just a 10 week old kitten. he is bulbcat #4, a little black and white cuteness exuder. it's almost a years since we lost Raku so should he be called #3 (moving up the rankings) or #4 (chronological)?.

a slight hint of bluishness in the eyes

where did we find Moby? in a supermarket. there was a notice that Bulbgirl saw on the local for sale board after we had done some shopping. the notice was selling a 9 week old black and white kitten. it didn't say what sex the cat was and it didn't show a picture or even a sketch of the kitten's markings.

Bulbgirl took the number down and phoned shortly after getting back. the kitten was still available and now 10 weeks old as the notice had been up for a week. we could have taken him that evening if we really wanted to, but it gave the family a little time to say goodbye to the wee fella. they were getting really attached they said and were on the verge of naming him and keeping him. they hadn't named him as yet, because once you do that how can you give them up?

you can't really say i want to see him/her before i decide to keep the little bundle of fur. how cold would it be to see the cat and say "nope, not quite what i'm looking for"?

a little unsteady on his feet

Moby arrived the next day (it was a tuesday) about 1pm. a little sniffing around and he seemed quite at home. at that stage when playing with a kitten, they get tired all of a sudden and just stop, instead of slowing down gradually. it's as if their batteries suddenly run out (and it's really funny to watch).

white chin. feathery toy just out of shot

we put him in a set of kitchen scales and he was 1.25kg. he then put on another 250g in the next 2 weeks. he has grown up even more since then. he could fit in the scales really easily. not now though; he has grown so fast in such a short space of time. sigh. their kittenhood goes so fast. people talk of missing their kids growing up, with kittens blink and you miss it!

i met Moby's former owners by chance in the same supermarket where he was advertised. they said that they would take him back if he wasn't settling in with Bulbcat #3. they almost had slightly watery eyes, they missed him. he is a naughty little kitten but has bags of personality.

Logo

slogan means war cry apparently. i found this intriguing.

The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm (sluagh "army", "host" + gairm "cry")

do we go into battle everyday trying to be heard, remembered, loved, feared or admired? what is your war cry? how do you project yourself. how does the world see you?

slogans are very closely linked to logos. a logo is almost a graphical slogan but more powerful. it's an image you want to be immediately associated with you, the wall you just tagged, your notebook, or your company. think of superman's S, mcdonald's golden arches, or apple's apple with a bite out of it. simple but iconic.

barrack obama's logo

pepsi's logo

obama's logo seems like it's missing something. the pepsi logo seems to be, to me at least, altogether better formed, self contained. i decided to create a logo for me. while it might not be something elemental, something terrifying like batman's logo, it's a graphic symbol that represents an idea. plus it has a letter B in it (if you tilt your head to the left).

what do you think? can you improve upon it?

Flat for Sale

capacious. that's a word you rarely hear, unless of course you happen to be interacting with an estate agent. they have their own lingo, most of which is lies. maybe not quite lies, but not exactly truthful either.

i had no idea how much you had to lie when selling your home. small things that haven't bothered you at all, ever, suddenly jump out at you. little cracks in the paintwork, right angles that aren't quite right, messy neighbours, pet hair, the list goes on, and on. is there a fine line between lying and "maximising potential?"

you obviously want to make your property seem to be worth the asking price. if you want to maximise the potential of your property, don't let the estate agent take the pictures. the lady that came to value Bulbgirl's place, had a camera at the ready, but having seen her previous clients' photos, Bulbgirl said "my partner can take the photos." take them yourself, or you could be lumbered with poor shots, that have a an awful flash, washing everything out. it's the highest value item that most people will buy and sell, so take a little time and consideration when composing the shots.

top floor flat

the competition

i took the top one, making a natural border out of the trees. it's not your usual home selling pic, but i liked it. the darkness of the tree frame the block nicely. compare it with the competition's picture. two flats pretty close to each other, but one pic instantly more appealing because it was taken in better light (and some thought to composition).

the flat is on the market has been on sale for a little while and had very little interest. it's the current climate they say. a neighbour nearby on the ground floor (see above pic) let the estate agent take their pictures, which didn't do them any favours. the neighbout moved in about at the end of last year and is wanting £5k more now 6 months later (he's put it at a fixed price). Bulbgirl was wanting to put her flat on at a fixed price when seeing this guy do it, hoping to undercut him. it can only be a good thing for her, as with fixed price you can only come down, whereas with the offers over option there is more wiggle room for negotiations. myself and a friend told her this is probably unwise, although there are lots more people doing it now.

the problem is that Bulbgirl doesn't really believe in her property. the main selling points of the flat are space and views. it doesn't have central heating, but electric heating instead. that wouldn't bother me. if i was going to buy somewhere i'd rather go for space over heating any day. you can always fit another heating system later on, but you'll never be able to buy yourself more space, in a wee ground floor flat. the storage in the loft is a boon, because it's like another house (filled with canvasses and junk of mine). my junk is like expanding foam. it seems to grow and fill the allotted space, but i digress, that's another story.

dining room

in the picture of the dining room there is light coming in from the left. there is a window there and it appears as if the dawn is breaking through. it does do that, but wasn't at the time of the picture taking. we left it late and needed to get the pics to the estate agent the next day, so we faked it. Bulbgirl stood holding a long fluorescent light, just out of shot, to mimic the daylight coming in through the big window. she also made the 3 little stripey acrylic paintings you see there.

another benefit is that you can go and see horses, sheep and 2 highland cows less than 10 minutes walk away, that i will miss if we move closer to the city centre.

have you told any lies when selling your property?

update: the flat has now passed to the new owner.

Helicobacter

after having an endoscopy a couple of weeks ago, i got the results. apparently there is bacteria in my stomach. i got a call from the gp confirming this and telling me to come to the health centre to pick up my medicine. the girl on the phone sounded really young then mentioned "irradiation." it must be pretty bad if i have to pick up the medication at the health centre "i thought to myself", normally one picks up a prescription.





sure enough it was a prescription and a newbie on the phone who was giving out garbled messages. at the health centre they couldn't even tell what type of bacteria in my stomach was causing too much acid, and preventing me from keeping food down. bacteria in the stomach seemed like saying "blood in the veins". what do i know about biology though?

electron scanning microscope pic of helicobacter bacteria. i think they look pretty cute.

the pharmacist told me that the medication was probably for helicobacter. pharmacists train for nearly as long as gp's and usually have a more friendly manner. my sister had the same thing a few years ago, and suffered from acid reflux too. i wonder if there is a link there? my sister studied biology at university, and heard somewhere that a lot of people in the Glasgow area have helicobacter. According to wikipedia:

The most widely known species of the genus is H. pylori which
infects up to 50% of the human population.

it also says:

Acid reflux and esophageal cancer

As the incidence of gastric cancer has
decreased,
the incidences of gastroesophageal
reflux disease and esophageal cancer have
increased dramatically. In 1996, Martin J. Blaser put
forward the theory that H.pylori might also have a beneficial effect: by regulating the acidity of the stomach contents, it lowers the impact of
regurgitation of gastric acid into the esophagus.[3]
While some favorable evidence has been accumulated, as of 2005 the theory is
not universally accepted.

i have no idea what that means, if anything, but the medicine is making me feel pretty pukey as the pharmacist said it would. i'm keeping food down better so hopefully this will work.

to get rid of the helicobacter bacteria, i have to take 8 pills a day. 4 in the morning and 4 at night. they give you a horrible 'medical' taste in your mouth all day. chocolate spread helps but the taste comes back. it's only a few more days until they are all finished though, so hopefully all will be well then.

Light Snack

yesterday i didn't eat much. i had a light snack, or a snack of light. i had to have a medical procedure at the southern general hospital: an endoscopy. that's the one where they put a camera down your throat, not the other end. they need to give me this as my stomach has i've had some trouble with keeping food down and acid reflux.

it was scheduled for 8.30am, and i last ate anything about 6.30pm the night before. the leaflet i was given told me to not eat or drink anything from midnight, but my last herbal tea was about 9pm to be on the safe side.

the hospital staff were running a little late even though i was first of the day. they were dealing with other patients who were already in there, not just visiting like myself. the nurses were very nice and explained everything to me. i imagined it to be like visiting the dentist, but it was a more 'hospitally' visit than i imagined it would be: having to wear one of those gowns that split up the back, and giving me a name tag around my wrist, then wheeling me through on gurney.



the camera with the light on it could have been damaged by my tongue piercing so they asked if it could be taken out. i wasn't allowed to watch the monitor and see my insides unfortunately, only if you were getting the tube up "the other end" could you watch i was told. they sprayed the inside of my mouth a few times with an anaesthetic spray which tasted of bananas. laying down on my left side a nurse gave me one of those plastic things with a hole in it so that i could still breathe and not bite down on the camera tube.

my left arm was laid across in front of my right arm and resting on my right hip. they put one of those things to measure pulse or whatever on my index finger and a reassuring hand was laid on top of mine. this was probably not to reassure me but to prevent me from pulling the tube out if i started to gag and my body's normal self defence measures kicked in. who knows?

the endoscopy procedure was really quick, well once i had actually swallowed the tube. this is difficult when your throat had been numbed, the swallow muscles just didn't seem to want to swallow. having a camera/light down your throat brought to mind the facehugger from Alien, but it was mercifully short and didn't implant anything in my chest. on the contrary actually, a little bit of my stomach lining was taken out to biopsy. my stomach hurt a little after that, but was given the all clear. that means the rheumatologist can start testing me like a guineau pig on different meds.

after a wee lie down getting the tongue piercing back in again was difficult the most difficult part, almost creating a new hole in the process with the metal stud, not a sharp implement. i must have ripped away the protective layer that had built up on the inside of the tongue. this is actually the second time that's happened, it will heal soon.

after going to the hospital and having a sleep, Bulbgirl woke me up with a chocolate soya drink. perfect way to wake up.

How do you like them apples?

i love this clip from good will hunting. good movie. check it out if you haven't already.

other related apple info: i've got apple.la on auction on sedo here if you want to make a bid. less than 4 hours to go.