Freakin' OUCH -- The Sequel (this time it's personal)

Yeah, I know, sequels tend to suck.

Went to the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Hospital Emergency room at 0-dark hundred this morning 'cause sleep wasn't really in the cards.

After the poking (way too much) and prodding (really, way too much) and "Take a deep breath Mr. McFadden" (are you frickin' serious?!?!?) and far too much pressing the sore chest up against the uncomfortably cold x-ray machine, the good Dr. (insert Indian name here -- I didn't catch it) informed me that my diagnosis of a cracked rib was completely wrong (silly me). I had "possibly" a torn muscle.

I guess the good news from this is that there actual muscles in my torso. Here I thought it was all flab.

Anyway...

I was scolded for not taking pain killers a week ago to moderate the pain. Apparently it's good to take drugs. At least the legal kind.

They jabbed me with a healthy shot of Toradol which worked out well. The shoulder hurt so much after the jab I completely forgot about the ribs. Instructed to take Neurophen with codeine for the next three days.

Good news -- I can take moderately deep breaths now.

Bad news -- I have to lay off the booze this weekend.

In the grand scheme of things, this is not really serious (I know a guy who recently had a couple of lungs replaced...a torn muscle in the ribs is a day at the topless beach compared to that).

And it gives me an excuse to not mow the lawn this weekend.

T - 66 days and counting...

Freakin' OUCH

I have a very healthy, very athletic, very bloody strong 13 year old son.

In the course of a normal father / son 'rasslin' match (aka, let's see if I can beat up dad) I bobbed when I should have weaved and caught a boney knee to the ribs.

ca-chunk.

I now have at least one cracked rib halfway up the right side of my torso -- maybe more. This was LAST weekend. Braniac me figured a hospsital wasn't needed and I've been suffering all week. Can't lie down to sleep...

Tomorrow I go for x-rays, 'cause the freakin' thing is hurting more each day. Poor kid feels like shit, but hey, these things happen.

Not too often I hope.

Moral of the story -- they're tougher than they look.

The voice of reason

Again, political comment to follow. Feel free to skip (I won't care)

Found this during late night trolling the web (why I'm up late in the next post)

http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081017light.html

Don't know who this guy is -- haven't read him before, but the comments should be published to a much wider audience.

The gist of the acticle:

Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."

Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.

As Thomas Sowell points out in a TownHall.com essay entitled "Do Facts Matter?" ( http://snipurl.com/457townhall_com] ): "Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury."

These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

What a choice...

Political content ahead...sort of. Avoid if you wish.

Damn, I'm glad I'm not an American. This is a choice I wouldn't want to have to make. Granted, 80% of the people in the states are going to vote based entirely on bias. "I'm a Democrat -- I'm going to vote democrat" and they would if it was Hugo Chavez led ticket.

Or...

"I'm a Republican and will vote that way regardless of who is on the ticket."

So the 20% in the middle (of a voting population that is typically, in the good ole US of A, less than half of the eligible voters) actually decide who will run their country.

Sheesh.

On the (very far) left is a guy that will -- in my opinion -- turn what was once a proudly capitalist country into a socialist, Robin Hood handout, gimme country. Now, I'm currently living in one, and was born in another, but I don't think that's what the average American is looking for (or he would have moved to Canada a long time ago, just like Alec Baldwin said he would).

And on the right...he's certainly done his part serving the country in the military (and some of the POW stories are truly inspirational) but to be in politics for as long as he has (25 years) yet still claim maverick, outsider status is a little rich. And I'm sure Tina Fey -- I mean Sarah Palin -- is a swell person (and I've got no problem shooting things), but PTA and a couple of years as governor really doesn't make her qualified to step in should she need to.

Polls are all over the place, but the latest Gallup numbers shows a statistically insignificant difference between Obama and and McCain. The undecided will decide.

So what is that 20% in the middle to do? These are the people that the two candidates are targeting, and the tactic from both camps seems to be more of a "look how bad the other guy is" instead of a "look what good I will do for you and the country".

Like I said. Glad I'm not in that boat.

What day is it?

You ever have those weeks where Tuesday morning feels like Friday...and there's still 3 and a half days to go to the weekend?

It was one of those weeks.

Plus, up until 2:30 in the morning Thursday to get some short notice, urgent and important (so I'm told) stuff done, and then up at 5 to get sonny-boy off to morning football training, and it's going to take a week to recover. Ain't as young as I used to be (although rumour has it, no one is).

Booze is the same way. I have distinct, although fuzzy, recollections of working the bar during an engineering sponsored dance at U of R. One drink for the customer, one shot for me. One for another customer, another shot for me. Not completely sure how I got home, but aside from a bit of blah the next day I was no worse for wear.

A double scotch before bed these days, though, and I'm blurry 'til noon the next day.

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A brief foray into American politics (as an observer only. A Canadian living in Australia should treat the American Presidential election as not much more than an amusing miniseries.)

Who here thinks that if either candidate had known what the economy was going to do (a-ooo-gah, a-ooo-gah, dive, dive) they would have lit out for the hills...I watched two of the debates, and I'd be writing SBSP over those two.

Diversion over. Getting late, must crash.

Vacations suck

Yeah, really.

Not the going into the vacation, or the actual having the vacation, but the Monday morning back into the office after the vacation.

A word to the wise (for those that haven't figured it out yet). Don't take a week off. A week isn't long enough to justify getting someone to do your work while you're away. The natural consequence of this is that there's about a week's worth of stuff on your desk when you drag yourself back in.

Take a bloody MONTH off. Someone will have to backfill for you, and, if the right person does it (cultivate that person of you find one), there will be minimal crap to greet you on your return.

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It's summer here. Winter was a cool winter this year, with a couple of early Saturday mornings on the football pitch crunching through the frost.

Spring was on, if I remember correctly, a Thursday between 8 and 10:30 a.m. Now it's summer. Backyard full of lorikeets, king parrots, cockatoos (white mostly -- a few black before a heavy rain) and bell birds (sound like a bell -- I don't think I've ever actually seen one though.) The pretty birds aren't showing up because of the witty conversation and lovely landscaping; my dear wife drops a couple of tons (or tonnes) of bird seed and soft fruit in the backyard (in the feeders) a couple of times a week. It's like an aviary. And the grass is getting REALLY green below the feeders.

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One last thing before I get back to emails. There's a professional football league here in Oz, the A-League, started up in '05. FFA (Football Federation Australia) mandated that all A-League teams set up an academy system to help develop young players. My son starts with the Central Coast Mariners Youth Academy this coming Sunday.

He's stoked.

He said what?!?

Australian to Canadian Dictionary -- Part 1

It is a commonly known fact that Australians speak English, but of a different variety than that used in North America. This should help any that are conversing with Australians, or happen to come here for a visit (like you, ma and pa).

Mate: Sometimes it’s not a verb, but a term of endearment as in ‘G’day, mate’ (see g’day). Of course, sometimes it *is* a verb.

Thong: Don’t be alarmed if dress code is described as shorts and thongs. No need to get butt-floss. You would know things better as flip-flops.

Jumper: Not someone who leaps off something. It’s a sweater. Won’t be needed between the months of October and May.

G’day: A classic example of the ‘remove a syllable if you can’ syndrome. Of course it means ‘good day’, but the syllable removal or shortening of words syndrome can be seen in other words too, most notably Canberra. It’s spelled with three syllables (can-ber-ra) but is pronounced as two (can-bra). I think this has to do with the large number of flies present in the hot dry summers that are looking for moisture, usually in your mouth. Aussies learned quickly that the faster you could say something, the fewer flies you ate.

Fair dinkum: No idea what the roots of this are, but is means ‘genuine’ or ‘true, I wouldn’t bullshit you’ as in

“Are you serious that he drove from Melbourne to Brissie in one go?”
“Fair dinkum, and with only two flats of beer!”

Hope this helps and clears a bit up. I'll collect some more and post next week.

Kookaburra sings on the old...goal post

This little guy, a ravenous, carnivorous bird with a dusk and dawn cry that sounds a lot like crazed monkeys on crack, is a Kookaburra (picture snagged from wikipedia -- I'll load a picture of the real culprit later today.)

There are two of these guys stalking the football pitch, perhaps waiting for one of the smaller kids to slip and fall, providing him/them with food for a week.

One of them swiped the head coaches croissant yesterday (a ham and cheese croissant) and ended up fighting with a magpie for it.

If you're from Western Canada, be aware that the magpies here are not the tiny black and white, relatively clueless birds you see sitting in groups of 6 or more on power lines. Magpies in this neck of the world are the size and shape of ravens, but are black and white(picture, again, later today). It was a full on brawl that the Kookaburra won.

So it's not all football here. And the weather is still very pleasant...

Seriously considering doing this (coaching) as a career...in about 5 years.

Football

Sitting in the sun (appropriately covered -- mostly) while Charles participates in a football camp in school holidays (half way through a 2 week break between term 3 and 4). He's enjoying the crap out of it, and I'm stealing coaching tips.

win - win.

doppleganger

Real quick...

I just found a seemingly duplicate blog called 2 Kids and a dog.  It's a homeschooling thing.  Nothing to do with me, and I think she was here first.

So if you run across it, it isn't me, has nothing to do with me and it's not approved by me.

(We home schooled our daughter for a while for reasons that seemed very good at the time.  Wouldn't recommend it now)

Critters

Apparently I can send entries -- including pictures -- by emails. Such as this one. Makes it a lot easier to update this thing…if it works.

This is a picture of a Blue-tongued Skink. Found him in our garage last summer. Scared the crap out of me . I thought it was a large snake at first. Of course then I saw the legs. Not many snakes have legs, although those that do can be just as deadly as the sort found around here.

Strangely, and despite the fact that there are more venomous critters in this country than any other I've lived, we don't really dwell on it that much. Now. When we first got here, every spider was deadly. Turns out there are tons of spiders here that aren't, a few that are painful, and only one or two types that can kill you if you're not careful. The really big hairy ones that show up on your ceiling, above your bed, aren't dangerous, they're just pervs. Won't bite, and if they did it would just hurt a bit.

The one spider you have to look out for is the Sydney Funnel Web.

Nasty little jerks, and if THEY bite you, you best take some precautions, apply a pressure immobilization bandage and head to the nearest hospital.

Same treatment for snake bites, handily enough.

Anyway, There's enough beautiful stuff in this country to more than outweigh the few annoyances.

Quick Note:

There's a wonderful blog written by a very old friend (she's not old -- the friendship is) relaying the experiences she and her family have been going through with her son's lung transplant. Highly recommended. It's a compelling tale, and she's a great writer.

You can find it at http://donovanstransplantjourney.blogspot.com/

Batter up...

Prediction: I'll do this for a couple of months, then get bored, or "too busy" to keep it up. We'll see.

As I look around the blogosphere, I'm one in over 100 million people doing this. How many are actually read / followed?

Anyway...

This will be a place where I can voice (type) my opinion on football (the round ball type), coaching, politics (any country), travel, music, books, and pretty much anything else I want. You, dear, sparse readers will have the opportunity to comment.

But I reserve the right to ignore your opiniated ass...if you want a soap box, build your own blog.

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Living in Australia. When we got here, almost three years ago, we picked up a Border Collie from a local animal rescue organisation. Already had two kids. Now you know where the blog name came from.

Border collies, for those that don't know, are highly intelligent, obsessive compulsive animals. She'll spend hours on the hunt for lizards. She'd make a great center back for our football team. (Note: I will use 'football' when I'm talking about the 11-a-side game with a round ball where hands are only allowed for the goalkeepers. It's not soccer. It's football.) She's not going to let you get past her with the ball. She's also incredibly loyal (to my son), and a glutton.

I'm looking forward -- very much -- to my parents coming to visit late this year. Plan is for them to get here before the NYE fireworks. We'll head downtown and watch them from the office roof, then spend three hours trying to get home. Part of the experience, I guess. Did that two years ago with one of my son's friends along, and he pent the two hours we were stuck in traffic farting. If I had duct tape I would have taped him to the roof.

The folks are going to stay a couple of months and experience Oz. Haven't seen them in must be 5 years now.

Going to hang up now. Sydney FC is playing Queensland Road and it's looking like a good game

Stay tuned. I'll add as the mood strikes.