2mm born at 9:58 pm

Scanning Electron microscope photo of a kidney stone crystal

Well, it looks like John has passed his kidney stone at just before 10 this evening. It came late on Christmas day, but I think it was still his best Christmas present ever.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you and yours have a warm and happy holiday, hopefully we'll get to see you very soon. Chalupa's favorite present so far is this little frog we call Mr. Ribets, she's obsessed with him. Enjoy!

A long day for Chalupa

Usually, Chalupa lives the life of Riley. She sleeps all day, gets taken for long walks and usually gets a bite or two of whatever I eat for lunch. But as everyone knows she's on a strict diet to get rid of her almost kidney stone.* So, she's had no bites of apple or carrot or anything, no dingo bones, no chicken treats, nothing. And at the wee hours last night we left her to go to the emergency room. And then we spent most of the day holed up in the hotel trying to recover from the night before....well I was anyway, John was busy running his company from his laptop and cellphone while also trying to pass his own kidney stone. When we finally ventured out of the hotel we headed to John's father and step-mom's house for dinner, where they're huge black greyhound mix loves to lick Chalupa's but. I think this is one definition of hell for little Chalupa, and because Chalupa has been so starved for treats she tried to pick up one of Lucy's bones and Lucy promptly pounced on her. Lucy is easily a 70lb dog, and Chalupa is about 10lbs. It was a scene, with Chalupa screaming bloody murder. It was over in a second, but little Chalups was completely exhausted by the time we took her back to the hotel. So, hopefully the rest of our vacation goes a little more smoothly, here's hoping we've seen the last of emergency rooms and dog fights....for this vacation anyway. (knock on wood.)
*It's now completely proven that not only do pets and their owners look a like, but John and Chalupa actually share all their medical conditions too. Soon, I might have to put John on the special medical quick dissolving food...and no treats for him either, if it's good enough for Chalupa....

ER

There's nothing like going to the emergency room in the middle of one of the coldest nights on record, in fact the only thing that beat it, is getting back to the hotel a little after 4, then sleeping til 8, then getting up and driving to the grocery store to fill a prescription for pain medication. The year I met John was 1997 and I distinctly remember him taking a four day weekend to go back to NYC (we were working at a design studio in Baltimore at the time) for a little vacation. When he got back on the Tuesday after his trip, he had a great story about how his "mini-vacation" turned into a trip to the emergency room. Now, about 11 years later on another "vacation" John again had to get to the emergency room in the middle of the night. Only this time I drove him. He's doing well, he has a kidney stone, but has yet to pass it, he has spells of intense pain, mixed in with a few hours of feeling fine. For the most part the St. Joe's Emergeny Room was uneventful. But, it was amusing to watch some bozo walk in with a Raven's fishing lure stuck to the top of his head. Yes, it was a Raven's fishing lure, and it was embedded to the top of his head. I'd like to hear that story, and actually I tried to listen in, as he was interviewed by the triage nurse, but they must have suspected he needed privacy because they quickly shut the door when he started talking. I guess the world will never know....maybe he had a run in with a fan from Dallas.

Wd-50

Our friend Christine was kind enough to share a $200 gift certificate she got from a vendor to this restaurant called wd-50. Not to be confused with wd-40, the can of oil. The place was tiny, but beautiful and funky, they had one page for appetizers and entrees, another for desserts and coffee, then the rest of the hefty menu was devoted to wine and alcohol. The place was a scene, instead of bread we got these irresistible flat sesame bread, more akin to very thin crackers. They were surprisingly addictive. Our entrees were sparse but well designed, and good flavors. And our desserts were again very managed, tiny portions arranged in interesting ways on the plate. Although Christine's dessert had fig pudding plops that looked like plops....of something. We were happy to find when we got our bill we were about $18 short of the total, so we all agreed the best course of action would be to order another dessert. This time the cheesecake, which was delish, again it was little bits of cheesecake but covered in a kind of gelatin. They described each dish to us in great culinary detail, but to us it was like little pockets of marshmallow with cheesecake in the middle...yumm. So, would we go here again?? Maybe...if we someone gave us a gift certificate...food always taste better when it's free. :) btw the waitress did have a sense of humor, but didn't laugh when she said the balance left on the gift certificate was $2.80 and I asked if we could get $2.80 worth of the wine. hee.

Up early

It's been a long time since my lazy ass has been up before 7, but last Thursday I had to catch a train at 8:03 to Boston for a lunch meeting. And I set my alarm for 6:45am, the only thing that kept my going was the thought of a nice long train ride, I just kept telling myself I could sleep on the train. Which, I did, happily. Here's a pic or two from the early morning train leaving Penn station.

and now pics of Chalupa