The Intermittent Blogger; Websites of Good Cheer

Hi guys. As you can tell, I blog in fits and starts. Best to subscribe via RSS feed rather than click to the site so you don't get annoyed with me. You can click at the bottom to subscribe.

The Gary update is mostly good. He sent out a very elegantly worded email alerting his friends and loved ones as to his diagnosis. The meeting with the IUPUI (the Indiana University and Purdue combined campus in Indianapolis) oncologist was very encouraging. He will check with one more oncologist and then probably go with IU. He might also be in a clinical trial - sort of an opportunity to give back to the community for someone who retired from a long and illustrious career at Eli Lilly (makers of Prozac, Evista, Cialis... and other fancy stuff). He is going to have months of chemo ahead of him, though, so your continued prayers and well wishes are appreciated.

So how does one deal with the stress of a family medical emergency? Well, I'm not a therapist, but I have, unfortunately, some experience in this matter. One very important trick is to recognize when your brain is in freakout mode and distract yourself. There is nothing productive to be gained from freakout mode - this is not a rational analysis tool, it is simply a way to work yourself into a big fuss and be a big pain to the people around you. It can also be addictive to be in crisis mode, so you have to be disciplined about stopping the panic spiral.

So how do you do that? Distraction. A book might work, but for a full-on freakout, something bright, shiny, and noisy is better. TV, movies, etc. are good. But this is also one thing that Uncle Internet is particularly good at! Here are some of my recent favorites:

For those amused by cats:
http://icanhascheezburger.com is the source for "lolcats". Note that those of you who cannot turn of your inner editor will be driven crazy by the "lolspeak". My favorite is "Big fud smell like glass".
and
an engineer's guide to cats,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4
and
http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat
note that Matt created a video response to one of Simonscat's videos. Here is Matt's YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/tiredamage

For your inner geek:
Forget the Danish text - just click on the video:
http://webgrrls.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/standards-rap/
and
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/store/downloads/
"Code Monkey," under "Thing a Week Three."
You can "hear" for free.

Important internet lore:
This Weezer video is sort of a primer in internet lore:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI
Some of my favorites to which the video refers are:
Diet coke and Mentos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvM
Chocolate Rain, Original:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA
Chocolate Rain, with funding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x2W12A8Qow
Peanutbutterjellytime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8MDNFaGfT4

And lastly, my two favorite Weird Al videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsfVw9xxoNY
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw
which has its own wikipedia page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_and_nerdy

This will serve as my cancer prevention tip of the day, under the subtitle of stress reduction. Also, recall that laughter is good exercise for your abdominal muscles.

Be well all!