Warogobogo

…relax, it’s just a nonsense word

Doc Update!

1: As announced earlier elsewhere, the doctor took the stitches out of my shoulder and told me I’ll be cleared to go back to work as soon as I feel up to it. Given that my arm is a bit weak from lack of use and still has a tiny bit of pain in the shoulder, I reckon I’ll be off work at least another week or two.

2: I finished reading “I Am Half-Sick Of Shadows”, the fourth Flavia de Luce novel by Alan Bradley. It was, as they all have been, a darned good read and a good mystery.

3: I’ve also finished Doc Savage: The Lost Radio Scripts of Lester Dent. It’s a pretty interesting read and look back at how radio scripts were written. Considering that pretty much each episode was a self contained story presented in 15 minutes, they are pretty good tales. It would be great if somebody could produce them again, probably for internet radio.

4: My Sweet Little Pork Tamale Of Love, Grace, is doing very well in her battle against diabetes. She has lowered her numbers significantly in the last month or so. GO GRACE!

5: Lucy and Sasha, AKA The Girls, are fit as canine fiddles and living the good life. Whoever thought that saying “a dog’s life” or “treated like a dog” was a bad thing?

6: I am still about 10 1/2 months and 364 entries away from my goal of 500 Doclopedia entries, but I’m chipping away at it. I’m more than halfway through my repat tackling of the alphabet and I have an idea of what the next couple of themes will be.

7: On another writing front, also mentioned elsewhere, I’m going along nicely on my rewrites of the previous four DogCon/CatCon fictional convention reports. The first one was rather short, so it’s getting some serious beefing up. The second and fourth are getting a smaller dose of love and the third, massive one, is getting only a minor polishing. Seeing as how those four will make up about 90 entries…AND I need to start the fifth one (which I’m writing in advance) by the end of July…I’ll start reposting them on the fiction blog about the end of March.

8: And because I have nothing to do with my free time but write, I’ve also started on a Secret RPG Writing Project for eventual sale next year. More on that several months from now.

9: I’m also getting things together for a webcomic and an ebook, because I’m insane.

10: My veggie garden plans are not firmed up yet, but I’m just waiting for the rainy season to pass and then it’s on, baby!

And now, I have chores to to before writing, or my wife and dogs will beat me about the head and shoulders.

The Mysterious and Tense, Yet Somewhat Psychedelic, Story Of Mostly Purple Patty And The Meatloaf Of The Damned

…co-starring her best buddy, Orville Sweetcracker

Doc Update

Time for an update about life here at the D&G Cross Home For Wayward Basset Bitches. I haven’t been doing these as regularly as I used to, so maybe this will be the start of renewed personal updatage. Or not.

Healthwise, I’m now taking blood pressure meds due to my previously excellent BP going a bit high recently. I’m only taking half a pill a day, so I guess I’m not in danger of keeling over any time soon. I’ve also been told that my blood sugar is “nearly into the pre-diabetic range”, which pretty much means “lose some weight, fat boy!”.

Grace’s low level diabetes has cranked up a notch, so she is taking pills now and keeping a much closer eye on her numbers with twice daily tests. She has lost something like 75 pounds over the last year or so, but will keep on losing until things improve.

Winker is still taking her blood thinner and her diuretic, so she is doing pretty darned well for a dog who was so close to death just about a year ago.

Lucy and Sasha are as healthy as can be. In fact, our efforts to fatten Sasha up just a bit (she was very skinny when we adopted her) have not beeb as successful as we hoped. Being a “sporty” basset, she just burns off calories at a hell of a rate. Still, we have gotten her to a point where you can’t see her ribs.

Jobwise, things are still the same, which means we will be on our Adventure In Poverty until we either get fat raises or win the lottery.

One speed bump in our financial road will come when I am off work after my shoulder operation in March. That will be about 6 weeks, depending upon how well my physical therapy goes. Things will be very tight on the money front for awhile.

Gardenwise, I don’t know if we’ll have a veggie garden this year. Between the goofy ass weather (as in NO WINTER!) and my surgery/recovery, we’ll probably just have a couple of tomato plants and maybe some green beans.

In gaming news, I’m looking forward to my annual trek to Dundracon. It will be good to be immeresed in geekdom and hang out with my tribe for a few days. Beyond that, I’m planning on getting my gaming group together in late April for some regular roleplaying again. I’m not sure what genre we’ll play in, but some sort of Pulp Era game sounds good.

Hark! I hear certain hounds telling me that it is time for walkies. More bloggage soon!

I Said “Living Dead”, Not “Living Bread”!

…now I’ve got to shotgun that loaf of rye

Goddammit, I swear that in 2012 I’ll get back to a regular posting schedule here. In the mean time, a few tidbits before I roll out the first of several new Doclopedia posts.

1: It looks very much like I’ll be running two official games at Dundracon this year. I’m not planning on running any more than that, but if the Call of Open Gaming is strong enough, I may run a third game. If you are thinking about going to Dundracon (and you should be), look me up.

2: Everybody here is healthy, chronic ailments nonwithstanding.

3: While going through old writing files, I found the outline and many notes for a new Toon book. I’m of two minds about doing any more Toon stuff, but the 30th anniversary is coming up in 2014, so…

4: I’m still mulling over what Doclopedia stuff to put into a book and how best to do it.

And now, the latest entry…

The Doclopedia #389

Look What I Found!: 1950′s Science Fiction Edition

Professor Sanders, come have a look at this! I was examining those weasels we exposed to the gamma rays after treatment with that new hormone formula and darned if they aren’t 25% larger than they were yesterday! What? Why, yes, they are aggressive, but after all, they’re weasels. Probably a good thing we keep them in separate cages. Yes, their food consumption has gone up quite a bit.

You can see, of course, where this might lead. Why, if we could increase the size of cattle or pigs or chickens, we could end world hunger. Just think of it, a world where…what? Oh, yes, it is getting late. We’d better close up and get out of here. Jane will have my hide if I come home late for dinner again. We’ll just give these weasels a double helping of food and, what the heck, a couple of these mice each. That should hold them until tomorrow.

Yes, we will need larger cages for them. I’ll leave a note for Joe and Eddie to bring some up from the basement and transfer the weasels into them when they come in to clean up tonight. Shouldn’t take them more than a half hour to do it.

My, that one male is a nasty fellow, isn’t he? Well, we’ll sedate him tomorrow for his examination. I wonder if his testosterone levels have gone up due to the radiation? Oh well, that’s a thought for later. See you in the morning, Professor. Give my best to your wife and kids.

The Way Funny, Yet Also Deeply Insightful, Story Of Mostly Purple Patty And The Giant Popcorn Ball

…co-starring her pet jerboa, Dennis

Holy Crap, Batman, An Actual Blog Post!

Hopefully, this will get me back to regular posting. First up…

New fiction up over on the fiction blog! It’s the Second Series of After The Change Came and it’s not written by the alternate Doc Cross who did the first one. Of course, anybody who hasn’t read the first series might get all confused, so that one will be available in it’s entirety on the Dociverse web site (http://www.thedociverse.com/#axzz1fDhhS3mH) in just a few days.

Healthwise, the injection of steroids that the Orthopedist gave me a week ago seems to finally have taken effect, since my arm/shoulder is much better now. Still not 100% and I had to postpone an MRI today due to a panic attack, but I will be back at work as soon as this work restriction is over on Tuesday. A good thing, too, because cabin fever was making me crazy.

In other health news, Grace has fully recovered from her broken arm and Winker is feeling better after a rather debilitating session of being in heat. Lucy is, as always, physically healthy while mentally she is our little Neurotic Nelly.

I am on Twitter as DocCross now, so you can follow me and stuff

I may well be on track to run two official games at Dundracon this year. I’ll know more in late January. If you come to the con, try to get in one of them.

Gotta go hit the sack now. More bloggage soon, my little hamsters.

The Seven Things You Must Always Do When Being Chased By A Dinosaur

…#2 Run faster

Another Saturday Night And I Ain’t Got No Money

Jeez, has it actually been a week since I last posted on here? Apparently, my writing mojo has really fallen down and can’t get up.

The diet goes well. No idea how much I actually weighed when I started, but I’m guessing 295. Saturday is my designated “sin” day, so I ate Cocoa Krispies for brekky and a big plate of Grace’s goulash for dinner. No lunch, because I forgot and because my stomach has shrunk a bit so as to feel full longer and I had the brekky at about 11:30 this morning. Tomorrow, it’s back on the Diet Train.

It looks as though the Drama Demon has decided to finally to move on to another house (hopefully that of the dickhead next door) to dispense his lifestyle disrupting seeds. All of our health meters seem to be in the “Pretty Good, Considering” area and there has not been any rushing to the ER in a week. This is good news, since Grace is pretty much out of sick days at work.

So, about my mising mojo…I dunno exactly what to do. I’ve been rather tired and stressed this last two weeks and have done fuck all writingwise. One person told me it might be delayed burnout after writing for a year straight, but I took about 3 weeks off before restarting and I was down to just 6 days a week. I’m thinking the whole deal with Grace being emotionally wonky during her busted arm weeks had a bigger effect on me than I thought. I sort of got worn down.

I’m gonna have to get back on the horse one way or another, so it’s probably best just to start pounding the keyboard and see what oozes out of my brain. Maybe I’ll drop to 4 days a week for a bit. Dog knows I have plenty of Doclopedia themes and fiction ideas to choose from.

Well, I’m sleepy and ready for bed, so I’ll end this post. See y’all on the other side.

A Pink Mink With A Decided Stink Bought A Drink For A Skink Who Poured It Down The Sink

…cos he didn’t stop to think, the reptilian little fink.

So today I went to see my urologist with the thought in mind that, after about 18 months of trying various drugs to shrink my prostate gland, it might be time to reduce it via surgery. And so I did.

It would seem, however, that prostate surgery is not an option just yet. Apparently, my old urologist(who was really old and retired last summer) was way too conservative on the dosage of the first drug I was on. So my new doctor (a very pleasant young lady named Anastasia) will be putting me back on it. If it still doesn’t work or, like the last drug, has side effects, then we will see about the surgical option.

Unfortunately, she also wants me to slowly wean myself off of tea:( I will reluctantly try this, but I apologize in advance for any death and destruction I may cause during my withdrawal stages.

The Secret Life Of Old T-Shirts

…especially the old convention tees

Fast Doc Update

Keyboard on laptop still fucking up, but Grace has all info to fix it soon.

Everyone here is healthy, altho Grace and I are running an exhaustion marathon due to work, work, work.

The Girls are on a diet. Mostly, it’s Winker (AKA “Little Chub Chub”) who needs to lose some pounds, but they both enjoy eating a 25% veggie stew diet.

I’ve been using Grace’s desktop computer to go online, but since it is nearly a piece of steampunk tech, it is painfully slow.

Gotta run now. Exposure to UVB rays awaits. More bloggage later.

Solar Powered Chicken Cars

…in case your chickens like to drive

Health Update: Aside from a runny nose and an annoying tickle in my throat, I’m feeling way better. I blame my recent health woes on the unseasonably cool and damp weather. Man, this whole global warming thing is gonna suck.

Lucy Update: She is still a very timid girl, but was a very good girl when she went to Petco with Grace and got her rabies booster on Saturday. She is still a bit iffy about Winker, but does not run away from her anymore.

Garden Update: Besides fucking with my health, this screwed up weather is not doing my garden any good. my chiles, tomatoes, beans, melons, squash…they all want the hot weather. Fortunately, temps are predicted to be in the 80′s & 90′s this week, so maybe I’ll be eating fresh veggies in another month or so.

More bloggage later.

Chapter 444: In Which Our Hero, Falsely Accused Of Murder, Escapes Into The American Wilderness

…and ends up becoming a Cherokee warrior

Well, apparently my ear infections were lonely, since I now have a sore throat that could be strep throat. I blame all of this on our totally screwy June weather this year…it is around 14 degrees cooler and much rainier than any previous June. Stupid Global Warming!

Anyway, if I still feel crappy in the morning, it’s off to Urgent Care for some antibiotics for me.

The True Story Of How I Rescued A Princess Held Captive In Elko, Nevada

…it’s a very thrilling story

BLAAHHH!!! BLAAHHH!!!, I say! I’ve got matching ear infections (well, not exactly matching…the right ear is worse than the left) and a headache that would fall a lesser man. Only the love of a good woman and two dogs is keeping me from stomping through Tokyo and leaving it a smoking ruin.

Speaking of the loving good woman I mentioned above, she has determined that we need a “fun day for just us, no dogs”, so we are apparently going to Marine World/Africa USA down in Vallejo this weekend. When we went a few years ago, all of the animal exhibits were scheduled for renovation, so we’ll see how they look now. Meanwhile, while we are gone, The Girls will be charged with sleeping, laying around, eating FOOOOOOD FORRRRRR DOGGGSSSSSS!!!!! and watching the telly. I am sure they will carry out their duties without any problems.

And now, it is time for brekky and cocoatea!