Channel Frederator

Among the things my macbook can't do is watch adultswim cartoons on the Fix. See, when I follow that link, I get this:

Whoa, whoa there buddy. Where do you think you're going?

Not with that Mac you're not. The Fix, she don't like Macs.
But we're sweet talking her. Wining and dining her.
Sending appropriately casual yet suggestive IM's. Things will change.

Until then, here's a weekly mini-Fix.
Those chumps with PCs have to sift through all the other crap to find this gem.

While I appreciate their sensitivity to my needs, the mini-Fix does not do the job. Lucky for me, I think I have found a replacement. Meet Channel Frederator. They're the folks who brought you Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, etc. Now they've got a weekly webcast of user-submitted animated shorts, complete with snarky bumps between episodes. The fact that it is user-submitted means the occasional short can disappoint, but the huge variety of styles and ideas is more often rewarding than annoying. Plus, each week they let the viewers vote on which shorts they liked most, so they can improve their selections in the future.

What I like most of this is that submitting doesn't require agreeing to a verbose license agreement or forfeiting your rights to your work. I'm no lawyer, but the "fine print" seems clear and concise enough for me to understand it:

By submitting this form you agree that this cartoon is your work, you have permission from everyone who worked on the cartoon to submit it, you have composed all the music yourself or have permission to use it, the whole cartoon is original, and you're over 18 years old or have a parent's permission to submit this cartoon. You will retain complete ownership of your work and we will not use your film in any other way without your expressed permission.

Because we want to pack as many cartoons as we can into each episode, Channel Frederator may have to edit or delete your film's credits if we feel they go on way too long. Don't worry, we'll still list them on our Website.

It's a lot of fun, and definitely worth checking out the next time you have 15 minutes.

Musicovery

Musicovery is a really cool website that lets you shuffle songs you don't even own by mood. You can use it like a regular internet radio station, or you can fast forward through the playlist (as indicated by the grey line), or you can select any number of parameters to play the exact music you're in the mood for. These parameters include tempo, mood, genre, popularity and decade. You can include a combination of these to create quite a nice mix without even thinking about it. Perfect for when you're bored of your own music, but don't want to be subject to the whims of some radio DJ or sit fast forwarding through your own collection on shuffle until something acceptable comes up. Getting a CD quality stream costs a little over 2 bucks a month, which seems pretty reasonable. That said, I'm pretty content with the free 32kbs stream.

LCFE IV

IV... I had one of those this morning.

The surgery went well. The doctor didn't see any immediate sign of a tumor and the lymph node looked normal, which is pretty amazing. We still have to wait on the path report to be sure they got all the cancer cells. But all in all, the best possible news.

I'm still kinda groggy from the anesthesia, and on a heavy dose of painkiller, so I'm going to wait to post more until later.

LCFE III

Not much new information, but I told people I'd post. The oncologists on the tumor board were amazed that the tests were negative and suggested I buy a lottery ticket. There was some debate about the benefits of taking a lymph node. The surgeon thinks it would be a good prognostic tool, and I'd feel better with the peace of mind. Surgery goes forward this Wednesday as planned.

Refurb Madness!

I did it. I finally took the plunge. I bought a mac.

One by one, my fears and hesitations eroded until all that was stopping me was the price tag. Then I found the refurbished laptops on Apple's website. They're almost affordable by even Dell standards. It doesn't have the exact specs I wanted, but it's still a nice piece of iCandy. The FedEx tracker says it gets here on the 15th.

Also, I got a call from the Chicago Peace Corps office, and they can't schedule the second interview until Michigan Tech gives me a thumbs up or down. I'm getting really good at waiting for stuff to happen. Mr. Rogers would be proud.

Lamest Cancer Fight Ever, Part Deux

So the plan is to go on with, well... the plan. They're still going to take a big ol' slab of skin, a lymph node and maybe a tendon or two. They'll look at all of it really carefully and . I'll deal with the 'if not' if 'if not' happens. Regardless, I'll probably go into a short period of hiding while the skin graft takes.


Dude, it's sixty degrees outside.

Goodfeathers

"Am I a clown to you? Do I amuse you?"

I've always hated pigeons. For me they rank with the cockroach and rat as symbols of urban filth. But listening to the Diane Rehm show this morning, I heard her guest mention attending a Pigeon Beauty contest in Lancaster, PA. Hearing his descriptions of some of the breeds, I had to see pictures of these beasts. I wasn't disappointed. This site has a nice gallery of some truely remarkable squab. Apparently, the American Fantail has a neck so long it curls its head around and rests it on its tail. Here are some of my favorites:

Lamest Cancer Fight Ever?

I've been reluctant to post about this for a variety of reasons, and one of those reasons was realized this morning. But given that recent development, I think now is the time to unravel this twisted tale and share with everyone what I've been going through the past ten days. So, follow along and enjoy the ride, knowing that a freeze frame and sappy music awaits you at the end of the episode.

Three years ago, I saw a number of doctors about a lump on my foot that had been growing over the past five years. No one seemed to know what it was, and finally a vascular surgeon agreed to take it out and perform a biopsy. We heard back that it was a dead lymph node and nothing to be worried about.

Flash forward to this October. I've been keeping an eye on the scar tissue where the lump had been removed, and I think it might be getting bigger. Since I want to ensure a clean bill of health for the Peace Corps, I decide to have it checked out and schedule an appointment with the clinic who had taken it out before.

The evening of the last Sunday in October I get a phone call from the head of vascular surgery. He's on the road and the reception made it difficult to hear, but the message is unmistakable. They've known I've had cancer for the past three years, but no one had bothered to tell me. Also, the doctor who had seen me has moved on, so it will take a while to figure out what happened. He says they are looking into it, but I would have to wait until Thursday to know more. So much for my clean bill of health.

The four days of considerable anxiety happen to include my peace corps interview. I don't mention it.

At the appointment on Thursday, I find out at least three mistakes were made. (1) Lymph nodes aren't located anywhere below the knee, so whatever they pulled out wasn't a lymph node. (2) An appointment was never made to tell me the pathologist #1 thought I had melanoma. (3) Pathologist #2 looks at the slides this week and says it isn't melanoma, but a rare form of cancer called clear cell sarcoma. Do yourself a favor and don't google that.

The doc also says that from the looks of it, it is a very 'indolent' tumor (that's my kind of tumor!) and that decreases the chances that it has spread. However, if it has spread, it probably would go to the lungs. They need an MRI, CT scan, bloodwork and chest x-rays before they know anything further. The tentative plan would be to take a swath of skin and 4 tendons off the top of my foot, and maybe a (real) lymph node or two out of my thigh to see if it spread. This would happen the day before Thanksgiving.

The hospital called in their risk management people to get a feel for how pissed I was that they knew I had cancer for three years and didn't tell me. I won't go into details, but they are picking up the bill for all the pre-op care, as well as anything that the insurance doesn't cover after that.

All the tests are performed that day, including the MRI. (Thank you risk management!) The closest available x-ray machine is in the plastic surgery ward. The nurses there say, "Gee, no one in plastic surgery gets their chest x-rayed. You must be pretty special!" I don't know what to say, so I say nothing.

They send us home, for another week of waiting and hoping. My doc has to consult the cancer board, which meets every Wednesday, with my test results before they know anything further.

I spend a lot of time with my family, call my sister to break the news. She and her fiance make plans to drive up before the surgery and spend time with us. To deal with stress, I go for a lot of long bike rides. It helps me feel normal and healthy. I deliberate day and night if I should tell anyone else, and how, and in what order. I don't. My reasons:

• I want to feel as normal as possible for as long as possible.
• I don't want it to be an excuse.
• It's better to give you guys a book report than to write you into the novel.
  
• It could be a huge mistake. They've already made three, remember.
  

Ready for the freeze frame yet?

The doc called me this morning with my test results. X-rays: clear. CT scan: clear. Blood work: A-OK. Nothing even showed up on my foot from the MRI. I like to think that the lungs spread to the foot, rather than vice versa.

They still might want to take the lymph node, just as a further diagnostic. Given the test results, they gave a higher priority case my time at the tumor board, so it'll be a couple weeks before we get the whole story. I'll know a little more tomorrow, and a lot more by next Thursday. Things are looking up.

I'm going to go ride my bike now.

Where it comes from

Doing yardwork...


Brendan: Dad, check it out. Looks like Zoey got into some Halloween candy. Grosss, is that a 'mounds' wrapper?
Dad: Is it? Looks more like Reese's Feces to me.

Quick Update

I should mention I've taken my next steps to getting out of Ann Arbor. I applied to Michigan Tech's Master's International program. It's simple. 1 year coursework + 2 years Peace Corps service = masters in civil engineering. Pie, no? The past few weeks have been busy making sure all the paperwork is in. Recommendations, fingerprints, background checks, letter of intent &c. It hasn't been fun. My interview with the Peace Corps last Wednesday went well enough, and there should be a second interview over the phone with the office in Chicago sometime soon. If that goes well, all I have to do is clear medical and legal checks and I can be nominated. Meanwhile my MTU application is in committee, so I should hear about that in a couple of weeks. It's nice to be in a place where the most I can do is cross my fingers.

I'm pretty excited. I visited MTU at the end of the Summer on the way back from a wedding in Wisconsin, and the campus defied my expectations. The kids in the program seem to be a tight-knit group and have a lot of fun together. So it was good to see that it isn't just a bunch of nerds staying inside and playing Counterstrike. I don't even think it will be too hard to find some folks to help me test out a little winter camping. Not to mention the coursework sounds exciting, and the Peace Corps is something I'd probably want to do anyway.


Plus, I don't know what the hell I'd do if I didn't get in.