Geek Habitat

I knew I’d jinxed myself by commenting that this year I’d been remarkably healthy. I’ve caught a bug — sore throat, congestion, sinus pain and pressure. The weather’s getting cold and windy again, and I’m sick. Yay. I’ve been doing the Nyquil thing at night (man that stuff’s super nasty! I finally wised up and took the gel caps instead of the liquid last night!) And during the day I’ve been subsisting with Dayquil. It either gets me wired, as it did on Sunday, or wiped out. It’s supposed to do neither.

I’m behind on a whole slew of things, including Christmas shopping — in fact, I don’t know if it even counts as “behind” when I haven’t begun my shopping yet. Of course, it’s not December until tomorrow.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I hear cats tearing something up downstairs, something we will hear more of when we get the Christmas tree up.

We returned home from Dallas yesterday afternoon, unscathed by the holiday traffic, Texas Highway Patrol and other travel hazards.

So, without further delay, it’s time to share my belated thanks for this year.

I Give Thanks this Year for…

• The love, support, companionship, inspiration and lives of our families and friends. They make our lives sparkle.
• For Justin. Always, for Justin. My man, my best friend, my partner and my husband. My All. I love you, darlin’.
• For Justin’s love of aviation and skills as a pilot. In just one of so many ways, he contines to show me (and our loved ones) a new way of seeing and being.
• For the Freedom of Flight, which hijackers, terrorists and uninformed fear can never be permitted to take away. And for AOPA in their tireless efforts to ensure terror doesn’t kill general aviation (the majority of flying done worldwide).
• For my mom’s resilience, determination and strength in spite of an awful accident and major surgery this year. She’s amazing.
• For our general well-being, wealth (measured not in money but in love, friendship, intellect and talents) and joy, and for the ability to share it with each other and our families.
• For the next generation — Tanner, Kendal and Jillian — who entertains and inspires us even as they remind us of the incredibly rapid passage of time.
• For blue skies, fluffy clouds, birds at the bird feeder, hiking trails, geocaches, sunrises and sunsets. Beauty and wonder everywhere, if one but looks around.
• For a dream pursued that, 1.5 years later, has taught me more than I imagined and made me a better person — humbled, hard-working, passionate about each day and always looking forward. And for a husband and family that saw it was something I needed to do and has supported me every step of the way.
• For memories made and memories yet-to-be-made. For the gift of life and the blessings of being born an American, the greatest place in the world despite its faults. Being a Texan, too, is just icing on the cake.
• For another year and so much more to do in life that I look forward to what it has in store for all of us.
• For our U.S. military and all who give up so much to perform their duties (including those who perish doing just that), set an example, deal with unspeakable circumstances and just be. For real people and real heroes, whether they’re in uniform or working to raise the next generation into honest, loving, hard-working adults.

Happy Thanksgiving from our clan to yours. Justin and I are in Dallas with Justin’s family, including baby Jillian and five cats (B.K., Tigger, Lauren, Marilyn and Martin). We’ve got a broadband wireless connection to the Net and two laptops in tow, so we’re armed and dangerous. (So spammers hoping to post a bunch of spam will find their crap is summarily deleted.)

Laters…

Okay, in the interest of a happy Thanksgiving and a normally-adjusted life (which I’m more and more convinced means my brother’s personal philosophy of as little exposure to the news as possible), I’m giving up CNN and any “breaking news” reports.

I don’t know how police officers and other investigators handle normal life when they deal with things like this and this. It all really boils down to man’s inhumanity to man, though when Robert Burns (1759-1796) wrote the complete quote, he gave mankind too much credit. His full quote is “Man’s inhumanity to man / Makes countless thousands mourn.” Thousands? Sadly, there’s no limit — no figure to put on man’s collective hateful power. Of course, the reason most of us don’t attempt to jump off a bridge daily, is there is also no limit to the collective power of GOOD in the world. I could only find one story among the chaff that reflects the true nature of what I mean — a story of Generosity and perseverence.

So, no more news for me. There’s a reason I don’t watch much television, and when I do — such as while laid up due to an injured knee several days ago — gravitate towards educational documentaries, geek shows (“Myth Busters”, “Monster Garage”, various real reality medical shows (trauma/ER and veterinary — I couldn’t work with people or animals in pain, but I’m in awe of those who can and do).

Oh, and I can’t omit my guilty pleasure — an occasional home remodeling show. Not so much for decorating ideas (I have my own style, thankyouverymuch), but for the cute guys who can do carpentry. To Justin: Sorry, babe, you’ve got cuteness off-the-scale, but a hammer or saw are a bit foreign in your hands! Of course, I’m not much better… I’m the idiot that jumps OFF ladders, remember?

Speaking of the ladder jumping, my knee looks normal but is reporting in with pain signals constantly. Our wacky weather and my determination to get back to normal mobility are to blame. I have greater sympathy for people like my Mom who have medical conditions which are, largely, unseen by passersby. A wheelchair or walker commands a certain amount of respect, or at least attention, but if you look completely normal — as Mom does, and as I do with my injured knee hiding beneath my jeans — people treat you like they treat everyone else… which is to say, uniformly rudely. I had to bring my loaded shopping cart to a screeching halt several times today and pull tight “evasive” maneuvers because women (and if stating a fact is sexist, so be it, dammit!) decided while in mid-turn they just had to grab their cellphone and gossip or stare blankly in space until their brain cells rubbed together correctly again. Of course, I was behind each of them at the time. Those that even noticed their affect on those around them just stared blankly at me and I’d smile, though the smile was just a way to hide my twisted expression of PAIN.

I know that even if I made the knee injury more obvious, however, the treatment would only marginally improve. Growing up, I often saw grown men and women literally throw doors closed on Mom despite the times she had to wear two wrist braces or walk with a cane. People, when not outright rude, are so consumed with themselves they don’t look out for others… which is I guess why I so frequently get weird looks when I flag people to go by because, you know what, I’m not in such a G-d damned hurry that those around me should have to suffer.

Whew… good rant today. I feel all fresh and clean. And I got three new t-shirts (two for me, one a surprise gift for little Jillian), from ThinkGeek.com. So in life’s simple pleasures department, at least, life’s pretty good… my fellow humans nothwithstanding.

Texas and rain — way too much of a good thing this year. For the third straight time in 2004, our backyard is now riverfront property. The water’s receded a bit, which is heaven-sent news because I was seriously wondering what precautions to take if the water reached our back fenceline and the underground power transformer (big green humming box full of dangerous stuff that shouldn’t get dunked underwater).

When Justin and I visited Del Rio several weeks ago, we found the upper Rio Grande Valley verdant and rainy — they’d reached East Texas’s annual rain total by the time October rolled around, and it rained some portion of every day we were there.

Don’t believe in global warming and its ability to make changes on a massive scale in relatively short timelines? Move to Texas, where we have two seasons — drought and flood. I’m not kidding, and it’s gotten worse in the past 5 years of the 26+ that I have lived here.

I’d post photos of the temporary river, but now that I have a $4,000 camera I don’t take snapshots as much anymore… it just feels wrong, sort of like driving a Ferrari on the beach instead of on the Autobahn where it can be unleashed.

You Know You’re Bored When… You get curious and search for your maiden name in Amazon’s wish list area.

I hereby thank my parents for *NOT* naming my brother or I …

** Allegra Blackburn-Dwyer (it was so bad, she went ahead and hyphenated it to make it truly scary…)

** Aranzazu Blackburn (I really hope that’s due to an arranged marriage or something…)

** Ardith Blackburn (What drunk artists tell others their profession is? “I’m an ardith…”)

** Alisa Blackburn (poor kid…must get called everything BUT her name… Alisha, Alissa, Lisa, Allison, Elise…)

** Aloysius R. Blackburn (oh…my…word! Makes you wonder what the middle name is! Probably something equally twisted, like Rudolph or Rutherford… )

** Averill Wyman Blackburn (Ave-er-ill? Ave-er-eel? Ave-rill? Ave-reel? No-no-no-and-no. They’re all just wrong. At least spell it like the French, Avril. But that sounds too much like “Advil”… perhaps related to Allegra?)

** Beau Blackburn (I hope he’s at least cute… otherwise…well…should’ve named him Buddy!)

**And there are many more … scary… names. Almost 2000 names in fact!

Just some useless information on a Sunday night/Monday morning at 12:51 AM.

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The worst I ever dealt with was having people mistake “Blackburn” for Blackbird. I quickly learned to answer to all variants of “Shannon,” most frequently mistaken as Sharon, as well as to “Shannon B” due to two years of primary school in which I was one of three “Shannon”’s in attendance.

Of course, little did I know that my married name would be shared by none other than a strangely popular male wrestler (whom my former co-workers probably enjoyed Photoshopping with my visage!). At least I also share my name with an attractive but seemingly undiscovered female singer, among other folks I’m not completely weirded out to share my name with. None are relatives, and I think we all breathe a sigh of relief on that one. Families don’t need duplicate names unless it’s intentional, like Jr., Sr., III, etc.

Oh, in completely unrelated news — my left knee — hurts like mad today. Too much activity combined with changing air pressure equal pain and stiffness. At least I haven’t jumped off any ladders again since Thursday (well, it’s something!)