Happy Birthday Claire

Today is the 8th birthday of a very special little girl. Her name is Claire, she is the daughter of my dear friend WeaselMomma. Claire comes from a beautiful family full of love, my little Niecey and I have had the honor of meeting them and both times we had a blast! Unfortunately we never got to meet Claire, she passed away when she was only two weeks old. Today is a hard day for the Weasels, please remember them in your thoughts and prayers and remember to give your loved ones a little extra love because life is precious and you never know how long you have.

Dear Claire, have a happy birthday up in heaven, you are loved and missed dearly by so many people here, even those like me who never got the chance to meet you.

Note: The organization SIDS of Illinois has helped the Weasel family since Claire passed away. They offer support to families who have lost a baby, education to help prevent SIDS from claiming more babies (In IL incidents of SIDS has gone down 68% with the Back to Sleep campaign!), funds research to try and end SIDS deaths and more. Anyone who wants to support this organization and the invaluable services they provide (the research they fund helps save babies everywhere) can do so here. If you would like to donate in memory of Claire she is listed as "Claire Weasel".

All I Want for Christmas

Music is a funny thing. Music can bring out pretty much every emotion, fear, loathing, sadness, joy, love; the list goes on. Today the song "All I Want for Christmas is You" took on an extra meaning for me and I'm sure quite a few others as well. As any of my regular readers know one of the people that I have befriended through blogging is WeaselMomma. I hero worship should probably have a restraining order filed against me adore her and her family as does my niece who was bummed out that we couldn't visit them during the Thanksgiving holiday and who would have totally abandoned me to live with them had I not insisted she come home with me after visiting Weaselville last year (I am totally serious, it first time the "Well fine you can stay but I'M leaving!" trick did not work on her!). Today WeaselMomma wrote a post about two of her daughters and how this song inspired a sad yet beautiful moment between the three of them:

When most people hear that song they probably think of a romantic relationship, for WeaselMomma it is about Angel Weasel. Claire passed away unexpectedly seven years ago when she was only two weeks old and left a hole that will never be filled in the Weasel family so the song "All I Want for Christmas is You" is a painful reminder of the only person that WeaselMomma really wants but cannot have in this life. The other day when that song came on the radio her eldest daughter saw the pain in her mother's face and did the only thing that she could do for her mother, she gave her a hug and let her mother grieve for the child she lost while holding on to one that she is blessed to still have.

I encourage anyone who reads this to go read the post WeaselMomma wrote, it is a beautiful expression of the love between a mother and her children. If you are like me and wish you could give WeaselMomma a hug and make it all better (not that anyone or anything could make it all better) she gives you a way that you can do so virtually in the form of a donation to SIDS of Illinois, an organization that provides support to bereaved parents and family who have lost an infant, educates people to try and lower the incidence of infant death, works to inform emergency responders on how to be compassionate towards those who have just lost a child, and very importantly provides funding for researchers working to reduce and someday eliminate the incidence of SIDS and other causes infant death. This organization helped the Weasels get through the initial devastation of losing Claire and while it is based in Illinois many of the programs they have developed have been adopted nationally and research they help fund applies to all babies not just those born in Illinois.

If you make a donation in honor of "Claire Weasel" the Weasels will get a notification and know that their Angel Weasel has touched another heart, means something and is remembered by someone outside of her immediate family. From WeaselMomma and other parents who have lost a child I have learned that having their child remembered and matter to someone outside of their family is the greatest gift anyone can give and means the world to them. To sweeten the pot, if you donate and let me know I'll try and get Niecey to make a shout out video to say thank you, who could resist being mentioned in a video by this little imp???:

Please go give WeaselMomma some comment love and a virtual hug of any size you can afford, thanks! =)

Influenza Information and Vaccination

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope this message finds you all well. I have decided to write this to help get factual information about the H1N1 influenza strain and its vaccine to you all to help you make informed decisions about what is best for you and your family. There has been a large amount of misinformation spread by both traditional media sources and the internet. When this outbreak first started in Mexico there were numbers coming out of Mexico that caused much panic in the US and the world. After awhile it was determined that these numbers were inaccurate and we may never know how many cases and deaths there actually were, the numbers reported were higher than they are in reality. When the virus spread to the US panic spread even quicker that the virus itself, newscasters were referring to this strain as if it were going to kill us all. After awhile it became pretty apparent that this strain is not nearly as bad as they hyped it up to be.

Current data show that this strain is highly infective but it tends to produce a more mild and shorter infection in many patients. This does not mean that this virus is "safe" and something to forget about, it can still cause complications and death just like any strain of influenza, especially in children and pregnant women. There is also the possibility that it will mutate or recombine with other strains of influenza that can cause it to become a dangerous hybrid strain. Influenza can be a very unpredictable virus and so people should always take precautions to avoid getting it and spreading it if they do get it. Frequent hand washing is quite possibly the best way to avoid contraction and spreading of influenza and other infectious diseases. When washing your hands use warm water and soap that does not contain anti-microbials (studies have shown they can cause more harm than good), make sure to get every part of the hand, people often forget between the fingers, the top of the hand (the part many wipe their nose with) and under the fingernails. Proper hand washing takes at least 20 seconds which is about how long it takes to sing "happy birthday". Alcohol-based hand sanitizers have been found effective in killing influenza viruses and can be used if there is no access to a sink and soap, keep in mind that if your hands are dirty/grimy that the hand sanitizers are less effective. Avoid touching your face if you are out in public and have not washed your hands. Avoid coming into contact with infected people if possible. If you are infected the best thing you can do is stay home until you are no longer symptomatic. If you must leave your home make sure to wash your hands frequently, cough and/or sneeze into a clean tissue (or your sleeve if you do not have a tissue) and then discard it and wash your hands.

And now onto vaccination. It is recommended that everyone get a seasonal flu vaccine annually, there are select groups of people that should not get this vaccine, mainly those who are allergic to eggs as the vaccine is produced in chicken eggs. You most likely know if you are in this group, if you have any question about it ask your doctor to make sure. There is a vaccine against the H1N1 strain being produced and tested right now, it is made in the same way as the seasonal vaccine and thus far all safety testing shows it is no different than the regular vaccine in terms of safety, as was expected. Some of you may have heard of the 1976 swine flu vaccine issues, please do not believe the propaganda comparing that vaccine to the current one, trust me when I tell you that immunology and vaccine development has changed drastically in the past 33 years. No vaccine is completely without risk but the influenza vaccine has a very low risk and most of the side effects are mild and short lived, especially when compared to the symptoms and risks that the influenza virus poses. When it is made available to me I plan to get the H1N1 vaccine and I want my six year old niece and the rest of my loved ones to get it as well. I have already gotten my seasonal flu vaccine and recommend anyone who has not gotten it to get it as soon as possible, it takes time for it to kick in. Getting vaccinated does not guarantee you will not get the flu as there are many strains of influenza and they can only fit three into the one vaccine and it does not work against other viruses and bacteria that could cause an upper respiratory infection but as the three strains they choose are the most prevalent and/or dangerous strains it is definitely worthwhile to get the vaccine. Currently H1N1 is the most prevalent strain of influenza in the US but it is very early in the flu season, which normally peaks further into winter, and the seasonal strains could follow behind or coexist with the H1N1 strain as the season progresses. Flu season can be hard to predict but I believe that it is better safe than sorry and get vaccinated yearly.

For more information refer to the following links:
H1N1 Vaccine Safety Information: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/vaccine_safety_qa.htm?s_cid=tw_flu45
Cool Public Service Announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gwUdmPl0bU
CDC's H1N1 Site: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
Collaborative US Government Site: www.flu.gov

I hope that I have helped clear up any confusion any of you may have had, feel free to link this to anyone you feel might benefit from this information. Remember that the worst thing one can do is panic in these situations, it can only hurt you as stress can lower the immune system. Knowing the risks so you can make informed decisions with confidence is the best thing you can do for yourself and your family. Feel free to ask if you have any questions about this topic or if something I wrote was confusing in any way, I will do my best to answer your question(s) or clarify points I may not have fully explained.

Take care,
Karen

Eyes for Jaclyn

The other day in water aerobics a fellow regular was passing out fliers and asking we post them and try to get the word out for a local charity. When she handed me one I told her I would try and do one better, given that it is summer there aren't as many people in my building and I'm not sure how many pay attention to the bulletin boards I told her I would write a blog post about it. I took the flier home with me and then went on the website listed, which led to a journal and I got to know a bit about this lovely family:

Don't they look nice? That picture was taken last summer when they went to Colorado, they had no idea that a year later they would be in a very different situation. This spring their sweet little Jaclyn, the one in the middle, started complaining about her eye. At first it seemed like it something minor and then they got a diagnosis that no parent wants to hear, their baby girl has retinoblastoma, cancer of the eye. They had to remove her right eye and unfortunately discovered that the cancer has spread and so she now is undergoing chemotherapy, she is only three and a half years old.

After surgery she made her puppy a patch just like hers.

Her first new eye, it has a little flower "tattoo" on the top because she wanted a pink eye, they compromised ;).

Given that this state is predominantly rural and the severity of Jaclyn's cancer they have to travel somewhat far for her treatments and to get her prosthetic eye. They thankfully have insurance but as everyone knows that does not cover every expense that they have related to getting Jaclyn the care she needs. As a result their family and friends are putting on a benefit next month to try and earn money to help them cover those extra costs. Anyone in central Iowa is invited to attend the event, it is on August 15, 2009 in Gilbert, IA from 5-7pm. They are also selling "Fight Like a Girl" clothing & merchandise and people can send monetary donations, for more details here is the benefit's website. **They recently added an online donation option, just scroll down to the bottom of the page and you can't miss it =)**

Big sister Courtney and Jaclyn at the zoo.

Jaclyn being totally adorable!

Please consider helping this family, whether it be through buying a shirt, attending the benefit, sending a donation or simply just keeping them in your thoughts and prayers. Any help in spreading the word is greatly appreciated, I have badges (see image below) that you can put in your sidebar, e-mail me at microblogologist@yahoo.com and I'll send you the code (let me know if you have one or two sidebars as the sizing is different). Also I would be thrilled and honored if any of you were willing to have this as a guest post on your blog. I will make sure all supportive comments get forwarded to Jaclyn's parents. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post and for anything you do to help this family =)!

Note: All pictures are the property of Brenda and Leo Gessner and used with permission. The Eyes for Jaclyn graphic was made by Jaclyn's uncle, I just added the border and code.

Happy Birthday Angel Weasel

Since I joined the community of bloggers I have befriended a number of people, one of whom is WeaselMomma. I discovered her through reading NukeDad's blog and had the great joy and honor of meeting her and her wonderful family over the thanksgiving holiday. Her blog is one of my favorites and if you do not read it I highly recommend it, just make sure you take a potty break and don't eat nor drink while reading it as you might wet yourself and/or spray your computer laughing at her hilarious posts!

But not all of WeaselMomma's posts are funny. As I read through her archives (I am an archive stalker) I quickly noticed a discrepancy. She has five weasel children (and an adult child aka Mr. Weasel) listed in her nest but she made references to being the mother of six (not including Mr. Weasel). Being an anal-retentive person who had an English teacher hell bent on cramming "bookmarking" into my brain (basically critically analyzing books as you read them) this created a sense of foreshadowing for me, that and her references to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) charity and research. I didn't want it to come, hoped that WeaselMomma had forgotten how to count she does have quite a few weasels running around, a love for coors light and my mother couldn't even keep three kids straight, but she didn't and I cried when she introduced Claire to the blogosphere.

Claire Elaine

I am not sure what it is about Claire, she is sadly not the first nor only child I have read about who has passed away, but she is the one that has stayed with me and grabbed a piece of my heart. I think about her somewhat frequently and am so sad that I never got to meet her as I did her brother and sisters. I simply cannot fathom the pain her family has gone through losing her after only two weeks and how much of a struggle it has been for them to rebuild their lives as best they can. They are truly one of the most beautiful families I have ever encountered, even my niece could sense how special they are when we got to go and meet them and celebrate Monkey Weasel's birthday with them. We literally had to physically fight Niecey to get her coat on and come home with me, this was the only time I know of that the "Fine, I'll just leave without you." bluff was called and I think she actually would have let me leave without her (I totally understand, I honestly didn't want to leave myself!).

One thing that has allowed the Weasels to keep going and to get back to functioning is SIDS of Illinois, a long standing organization that offers support to families who have lost a baby, education to help prevent SIDS from claiming more babies (In IL incidents of SIDS has gone down 68% with the Back to Sleep campaign!), funds research to try and end SIDS deaths and more. And so, today on Claire's birthday please remember WeaselMomma and family in your prayers, go give her some love, and if you can spare some please help honor and celebrate Angel Weasel's life by donating to SIDS of IL or perhaps some other organization like it to help other families going through such a horrific loss and hopefully prevent other families from losing their precious babies.

Dearest Claire, I never got to meet you but you have touched me nonetheless, I love you and your family and hope you have a very happy birthday up in heaven.

In Remembrance

American Flag flying over Main ISU Campus (State flag of Iowa beneath)

Today is Memorial Day, the day Americans remember those who have given their lives for our country. It is usually celebrated by spending time together with family and friends, often involving a cookout. Most towns across the US will be decked out with the US flag and have a parade. My niece will march with her girl scout troop in the parade of the town I grew up in and this Auntie couldn't be prouder! I feel this is an appropriate time to dust off one of my favorite patriotic songs of all time:

Thank you those who have died so that I can live free in the best damn country in the world! I'd also like to thank the family and friends of those who have given their life for this country and the soldiers currently serving us along with their family and friends. God bless you all and God bless the USA!

*Check out NukeDad's post, he links ways one can give back to help soldiers and their families.

Pray for Dakota

This little girl is very sick, she has a blood clot in her leg and a blood infection. This is a very bad combo, the bacteria in her blood are growing/hanging out in the clot in what is called a biofilm. Biofilms are microorganisms living and interacting together in a goo matrix (goo is not the technical term), they are highly resistant to stress that would kill them if they were going it alone, this unfortunately includes antibiotics. So the bacteria in her blood get knocked down by the antibiotics (she is on several very potent ones) but they are replaced with ones coming out of the biofilm/clot. They are using medication to try and dissolve the clot, which is a problem by itself, so the antibiotics can do their job but this is not without risks. They are using very aggressive treatments to try and knock this out once and for all so that they can save Dakota's life. She was born prematurely and so has been a fighter since the day she was born, please pray, send positive thoughts or whatever you believe in that the doctors have gotten her on the right treatments and that she has the strength to beat this thing! Thank you all!




Note: Thank you to all my regulars who are still reading this blog, I am sorry I have been too busy with work and life to keep up with both writing this blog and keeping up with your blogs. Once I get my life balanced and some issues worked out I will hopefully have the time to resume blogging more, so much has happened of the past few months I am pretty overwhelmed. I've been trying to stay in touch using twitter, if you have it and want to chit chat with me on there I am Microblogology, send me an @ message so I know you are one of my bloggy friends and not a spammer. If you have skype that is even better than twitter. Miss you all!

Maddie

I have not posted in a long time. There are various reasons for that, most of which I will eventually blog about but mainly fall under my being very busy with work, dealing with my health issues, having family visit, and just life in general. I've tried to keep in touch a bit, through twitter, blog comments, e-mail and skype. I thank everyone who has cared about how I am doing and especially those who have checked up on me to make sure I am ok, I am (mostly) and I will be fine. I have not forgotten about you all nor this blog, I have many plans for it, unfortunately more plans than I have time at the moment but I will eventually get this blog back up off the ground. In the mean time you can browse my archives, I have a few decent posts mixed in there, if you haven't already and want a Microblogologist fix ;).

All that aside the true purpose of this post is to pay tribute to one very special little girl, Madeline Alice Spohr. This is a little girl who was born prematurely on 11/11/2007 (11 weeks and 1 day early), she passed away on 4/7/2009. In her short time on this planet she has touched a lot of people, in her death she has touched even more, both in person and on the internet. People from around the world have heard about this beautiful child who was taken from her family way too soon and in the week since she has passed away have donated thousands of dollars to her March of Dimes team. That money will go towards helping families with sick babies and towards research that will help prevent prematurity and find treatments for those babies who are born premature or with other conditions.

The March of Dimes was founded in response to the polio epidemic that claimed many lives in the US and around the world, they proposed that everyone could spare a dime to help find a cure/vaccine, and one of the most successful and long-lived charities was born and as a result polio has been eradicated from the US and most of the world (it is still an issue in some third world countries due to lack or resources, education, and anti-western sentiments in certain populations). Their current focus is now primarily on prematurity, both its prevention and treatment and research funded by the March of Dimes has greatly improved the chances of babies born prematurely and made it possible to save babies born extremely premature (about 23 weeks is the current minimum gestational age that is potentially viable outside the womb) and they are working on treatments that will help spare these micropremies from the high chance of disabilities associated with being born so early.

Maddie's amniotic sac broke early, when her mother was about 19 weeks pregnant, this resulted in Maddie's lungs not being able to develop properly. During gestation the fetus "breathes" amniotic fluid which aids in lung development and maturation. Maddie fell ill with a respiratory infection and her fragile lungs just couldn't keep up. Today, the 14th of April, a mother will speak at her baby's funeral. They have asked that people wear purple to celebrate Maddie's life and that instead of buying flowers that people donate to the March of Dimes. I have included the badge for Maddie's March of Dimes page, their original goal was $3000, since news got out about Maddie's passing they have earned over $25,000 in donations. That is simply amazing. If you would like to donate to Maddie's team simply click on the badge below, maybe we can help prevent another mother from speaking at her baby's funeral, because no parent should have to go through the hell that Maddie's parents are going through and every baby deserves a chance to live. Thank you to all who donate and to Maddie's parents for sharing their precious daughter with the world and reminding us what is most important.

Note: Please forgive any errors in this post, it was mostly written from memory and I've been trying not to cry while writing it, not an easy task (I simply cannot imagine what her parents are going through).

Christopher Updated

2/28/09: About 6 weeks or so ago I introduced you to a little boy, he is the nephew of one of the bloggers I read, VegasDad. For those who don't have time or don't feel like clicking, Christopher is the adorable 2 year old with a bum ticker pictured above (Sorry VegasDad, I stole your pics for this post, hope you don't mind!). In January he had to have an extremely risky open heart surgery to try and correct his defective heart. His parents were given the choice, try to save him with a series of highly risky operations or watch him slowly die, no parent should ever have to make such a decision! Obviously since I mentioned his surgery in January his parents decided to risk the surgical option, it went rather well though I guess they found his heart is worse than they thought in some ways so they are doing the second surgery sooner rather than later, as short of a break between as possible from the sounds of it. This week he faces some tests that will determine what surgery/procedure he will get at the end of the week and so it will be a tough one for him and his family. Please keep this little guy and his family in your hearts and prayers this week.

Christopher's uncles have been raising money to help out their sister and family with some of the costs that insurance does not cover, not only medical costs but also things like time off work and driving from their home to Duke. They set up a free tech help service in which people can ask a tech question and get an answer for free, and he is a professional tech nerd, and ask that if you benefited or just feel like helping out and don't need advice that you donate to the fund. In the two months since they set up the fund people have donated over $3000, you guys are awesome!

Christopher after his first surgery, pic stolen from here.

And here is where I ask those of you who are parents or have experience with 2 year olds or are just hit with inspiration for help. They need to keep this poor kid on bed rest after these surgeries, which has been difficult as I am sure any of you who has been within 500 feet of a 2 year old can imagine. Does anyone have any ideas that would be free/cheap and easy to do to help keep Christopher from getting bored but keeping him still/in bed? Please leave your ideas/suggestions in the comments and I'll harass ask VegasDad to pass them along, thanks in advance!

3/4/09: Amazing news, his heart valve has improved to the point where he does not need the surgery right now! The docs were beyond stunned because this NEVER happens, how awesome is that?! Thank you everyone for praying for this little guy. He is not completely better by any stretch, he has multiple heart defects, but for now he can go home and be a 2 year old =).

Also about the request for ways to keep him occupied while on bed rest: Thank you so much for the lovely comments first of all, love them! I may not have been clear enough, though awesomely the subject is somewhat unnecessary at the moment given he is not having surgery right now (not sure when but from what it sounds like down the road at some point he will have more). After his surgery he of course is going to naturally have a period where he is hurting too bad to try to get up and such, the problem they were having, and VegasDad specifically mentioned to me, is that he starts to feel better BEFORE he is supposed to be off bed rest. I think part of it is because he has been sickly his whole life and so is used to pushing through more than someone who hasn't. Also the heart surgery improved his circulation significantly, so he probably suddenly has more energy than normal and feels better perhaps than before but that does not negate the fact that he had just had open heart surgery and NEEDED to stay still. Niecey was an extremely energetic and active 2 year old and so I can't imagine trying to keep a kid that age in bed and not bored, which is why I was appealing to you all for tips, thanks =).

Pray for CK Updated

1/15/09: OK so I normally do not post twice within the same day and I normally do not get religious or whatnot on the blog, and I am usually way behind the times since I get busy and behind on my blog reading. That all said I am breaking the usual and being abnormal. My blog roll caught my eye and I saw that VegasDad had posted and with the title, "a broken heart". I clicked it and kept saying, "please be a funny blog" over and over, the sense of foreboding was strong. I tried to imagine something cute attached to that title, like maybe his oldest boy got into a fight with the girl next door or something (my internet is running slow since I have too many tabs so I had time to think/worry). My instinct that this was not a funny post was sadly right, his little nephew CK is having heart surgery in less than 7 hours (11am eastern), he is only 2 years old. Whatever your spiritual beliefs please think of this little boy and his family, pray, meditate, send positive vibes, whatever, can't hurt. And go let VegasDad know you are thinking of his nephew and his family in this horrible and hard time they are going through.

Also his brother is trying to raise some money to help their sister and her family get through this, as we all know healthcare is not cheap and they do not have good benefits, he is a techie so if you need some tech help check him out, he is offering his expertise for free with the request that people donate if they can (you can donate even if you don't need advice), any amount helps and it can definitely add up if a bunch of people donate even just a little. Thanks everyone!

Update: The surgery has been postponed until next week, the hospital got full of sick kiddies and so there wasn't room for little CK and it sounds like he is not as critical thankfully as some of the others. I'll try to keep this current but you can always go directly over to VegasDad's site, it is linked above, for the most current news. Thanks.

Update (1/20/09): The surgery is tomorrow. It is a risky procedure, his parents had to decide to risk surgery or let him pass away slowly. I simply cannot imagine how horrible that decision would be to make, especially since he is only two! Thanks everyone who has clicked over and shown them some love and support, the fund they set up earned over $2000 (it is still accepting donations), once again I am impressed with the awesomeness of the blogging community. If society were more like the blogosphere I think the world would be in much better shape on many levels.

Update (1/21/09): So far so good, he came out of surgery in pretty good shape, he has at least one other he has to go through in about a month or so from now. Hopefully soon he can be running around getting into things and driving his parents nuts, since that is what 2 year olds are supposed to be doing! Thank you to everyone who kept this little guy in your thoughts and prayers.

Navigationally Challenged

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses; strengths to help you get through life and weaknesses to keep you humble. One of my weaknesses is the fact that I am navigationally challenged. Once I have been a place enough times I am pretty good at getting around but until I am used to it I can get turned around and lost quite easily. I was discussing this with WeaselMomma on one of her recent posts, I was telling her that if I ever went to Philly (her home town) that I would probably end up calling her hopelessly lost and she'd have to figure out where I was and get me unlost, or that I would have to kidnap her and use her as a prophylactic but in this case as a guide so I didn't get lost and not in terms of antibiotics* nor birth control.** I then revealed to her that I was navigationally challenged to the point of getting lost in my hometown and she said she wanted to hear this one so I am indulging her and the rest of you with one of my slightly less finer moments, enjoy.

It was the fall of 2001, I had graduated high school, gotten my driver's license, became a deli clerk, and got my first car, a 1988 Mercury Topaz that was my grandma's but she had stopped driving and it was just sitting in her driveway collecting wasp nests, a fact that scared the shit out of my mother (Hi Mom, I saw you save my blog address so you don't have to hide if you are reading this, I was getting ready to link you anyway). I started college that August at Benedictine University, a small private university in Lisle, IL. It was an interesting transition for me, not only was I new to the whole college thing but I had my K-12 in public school (a good system) and it doesn't take much guesswork to figure out that Benedictine is a catholic school given the being named after a saint thing.

At Benedictine Christian values are something they strive to instill in their students no matter what religion they are, this was rather apparent in their humanities classes, especially the first one that all students are required to take. In that course I was given an assignment, I was to do 10 hours of community service and write a report about the experience. This assignment proved very difficult for me, not only did I now have a full time course load but I was also a deli clerk and up until that summer I had been in a coed youth program through the Boy Scouts of America called Venturing Crew. My crew dissolved before I started college. While in crew I did many hours of community service, without crew I had no outlet and had to find my own place to volunteer, and most I thought of and contacted didn't have anything or I needed to have background checks or other nonsense that prevented me from doing it. Finally I found a nursing home that was happy to have some free labor, and it happen to be in my hometown, score!

A little bit about my hometown. It is a rather small suburb of Chicago. According to the sign last time I saw it there are 24,600 people in my town, obviously this is a somewhat rough estimate but close enough. Almost no one has heard of this little town, it isn't uncommon for people from neighboring burbs to have not heard of it. I was about a year and a half old when my family moved to this town and lived there until I finished my undergraduate work and moved here for grad school. So one would assume that I know this town quite well right? Well you assumers are wrong, I know parts of this town very well, the nursing home in question was NOT in my area, which was still very small since I had only recently started driving. My mom told me she knows where this place is, it is past 63rd street she tells me. And so confident in my abilities I got in my trusty Mercury and hit the road.

I get on the street the place is on and am driving along and get to 63rd street and start looking for a nursing home, I didn't see one. I kept going a ways until I decided I must have missed it and so turn off the main road onto a side street so I can turn around legally (too much traffic to do one of the U-turn using all 4 lanes my daddy taught me and I have made my own). Unfortunately for me this stupid side street had some odd twists (I was going around the block instead of finding a driveway to use figuring it would be easier, hah!) and instead of ending back on the main road I was on I got on another road that I thought was the main road but wasn't. At this time I had this really bad instinct to keep driving, I used to always do that when lost, just keep driving in hopes I would eventually get somewhere I recognized. In my defense I had not diagnosed myself as navigationally challenged yet and used to be dumb enough to think this method might work.

I drove until the road I was on either ended or forked and kept going and going. Eventually I saw a Jewel, which is a grocery store chain, and decided enough was enough and stopped to find out where the heck I was and call for help. I walk into the Jewel and find an associate and asked them what town I was in, the answer was Countryside, which is several towns over and around 6 miles from my hometown, though I took the insanely "scenic" route. I found out the street names and got on my cell phone (which only had 75min/month so I never used it) and called Grandpa and told him where I was and asked how to get home. He gave me specific enough instructions and so I went on my merry way.

The funny/ironic part was as I got back on the street I was on and drove further I drove into LaGrange, the town I was born in, where my clinic/hospital was and oh yeah, where I went to church for quite a few years. I was not far along at all when I started recognizing the landmarks, the road I was on was the road we took to get to church, except we turned before Countryside since it was in LaGrange, once I was in LaGrange I knew exactly where I was and how to get back. So my strategy funnily enough would have worked had I stuck with it about a block or two more, which is probably why I later used it when trying to navigate elsewhere with generally bad results. Instead of going home I decided that since I had been driving for like an hour or so I should at least try to make it to the nursing home, which Grandpa told me was BEFORE 63rd street. I found it and worked for a few hours, the next day I went back for a few more and then was too busy to get the full 10 so wrote it up as was and turned it in for a not so good grade.

And that dear readers is how I got lost in my hometown. Since then I have actually improved in my abilities to turn around and am a little better at navigating. It helps that I generally refuse to go anywhere without mapquest directions. Oh and my getting a little mixed up on my way to the Weasel's house was totally the weather's fault. I went during a bit of a snow storm that consisted of somewhat sticky blowing snow that coated the street signs and reduced visibility. That said if I ever do go to Philly I will likely get myself GPS chipped and steal WeaselMomma along the way!

~~~~~Copy LiteralDan Section~~~~~
*Use of antibiotics in a patient without a bacterial infection that has a risk of contracting one is the application of the word prophylactic that I encounter and use the most.
**Referring to various birth control methods as prophylactics was the application I actually forgot about when commenting on WeaselMomma's blog, proving once again that I am a nerd and my blog title is quite appropriate in more than just the figurative sense.

Community

When I talk about my blog to people, whether it be fellow bloggers or people who are unaware of the blog world I will often cite reasons for starting this whole blogging thing. I lurked the blogosphere blogless for over a year I think, I enjoy reading and being a grad student I often don't have enough time to really get into a good book and so rarely bother trying to read one. Blogs were different, they are like a long series told in many short segments and it was easier for me to read a post or two or 100 in my spare time (aka time I should be doing lit review, bleck). Another thing about blogs I found was that if I really liked something brought up in a post I could comment about it and therefore interact with the author, how cool is that?!

As is often the case reading one blog led to reading another and another and another... The blogs I read in the beginning were premie blogs but eventually that led to blogs written by non-premie parents. After awhile I noticed that there were these social clicks/rings between some of the blogs I read, this intrigued me. Not too long after this I was reading one of my newest favorites and came across this post. I got a good laugh out of it and commented, we had a comment and e-mail exchange in which we discussed the idea of my having a blog:

NukeDad: I know that a lot of people who read it [his blog] are bloggers themselves, are you a blogger?

Blogless Microblogologist: I am not a blogger myself, life as a grad student who doesn't get out much does not make for much amusing blog material*.
NukeDad: Keep in touch, cuz when you start your blog I want to be one of the first subscribers.

This exchange happened about two weeks before I started this blog. I had actually entertained the idea of starting one before but had concluded I would be the most boring blogger ever, him expressing interest in a blog by little ole' me made me think about it more seriously. After this conversation I talked to Baby Sibling about hypothetically starting a blog and we threw around some ideas of what I would call it and write about and she came up with "Microblogology" and I instantly fell in love and HAD to start the blog immediately.

Back to the concept of community, the topic of this post, I even named it that. Seeing how the different bloggers interacted and formed friendships definitely attracted me to joining the blogosphere and becoming one of them and not just be a lurker on the outside looking in. Life can be a little isolated when you live 350 miles from most of your family and friends and don't make friends that quickly/easily in general but especially in the college setting**. So I started the blog and it did not take that long for me to make a few friend in the blogosphere. Not too long ago (ok fine, forever ago), I was recognized for this in what I consider to be one of the best awards I have seen by WeaselMomma, this is so sweet of her (thanks WeaselMomma!) here it is: “These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

How sweet is that?! Only problem I have is that I have to choose 8 people, there are WAY more than just 8 people in my blog roll who totally deserve this award, but here goes:

1. NukeDad
   
2. Nonna
3. LiteralDan
4. Sweetened Taters
5. Missives from Suburbia
6. Waltz in Exile
7. Former Goat Nanny Diaries
8. 7 Acres of Heaven
   

I see this as a sign that I have made it into the blogging community, a community that I am very proud to be a part of. I have witnessed several occasions that highlight how awesome the blog community is but the most recent example I have come across I think is a shining testament to just how great our community is. It all started here, on WeaselMomma's blog, her husband had lost his job and she jokingly suggested that her readers should help them out by clicking her google ad links***. What started as a joke ended up earning her almost $200 since all of us WeaselLovers started clicking her ads, she was amazed and so grateful that people took the time to actually click. It was exciting and fun since she would update us as to how much money was earned at the bottom of her posts. Then out of the blue it was over, google got rid of the ads program and never sent out the $200. And then, just like a pheonix rising from the ashes (a second time in a way), the blogging community rallied. They would NOT be beat by this, they WOULD help the Weasels! And thus the Save the Weasels' Christmas was born, run by Big Bad Daddy Rant and pimped by others, like NukeDad.

Unfortunately I got behind on my reading because I had to work and did not find out about this until now, too late to donate nor pimp it, left only to document the fact that not only did they manage to replace the $200 they managed to earn up $250! In the end it is not about the money, of course it helps, but this $250 means so much more than its face value. This money represents how people can come together in times of hardship to help someone out just because it is the nice thing to do. The moral of this story is that there is still good in this world, sometimes it seems hard to find but it is there. I don't know about you but this definitely helps restore some of my faith in humanity! And this act of unselfish love couldn't have been directed at a nicer family, I had the great honor of meeting them with my little Niecey over thanksgiving break and they are truely wonderful people.




~~~~~Copy LiteralDan Section~~~~~
*I must say I stand corrected, apparently a few people do find my world amusing.
**In my experience as both an undergrad and a grad student one tends to form a "buddyship" with someone that ends when the shared class ends. To me a real friendship is one that continues on, even if you don't talk much when you eventually do it is like nothing has changed, the majority of my friends that fit into this category are ones I have known since K-12.
***Google ad links was a blogger feature that allowed you to host some ads and if people clicked them the blogger would earn money from it, like 0.001 cents a click so it took a LOT of clicks for this feature to make a blogger much money.

How to Survive the Coming Ice Age

While some of you might believe in global warming there are those of us who know that in reality there is an ice age coming instead, for some of us it has already arrived (current temperature here Actual: 24°F Feels Like*: 18°F.) While there are some people who are excited about the coming death to us all the rest of us are doing all we can to survive until maybe someday Al Gore's predictions of a future utopia will come true and running our oldsmobiles when we can to try and do our part to bring this dream to life.

It has recently come to my attention that one of my favorite Floridian's will be traveling north from her tropical paradise into the land of ice and snow and needs the help of someone who has managed to survive 25 consecutive winters. With the help of Flat WeaselMomma we are answering this plea for help, not only for the obviously humanitarian reasons but also because McMommy's blog rocks and should she perish in the wasteland that is the North from October to April we would lose one of the greatest bloggers on the blogosphere. And so here is the official Microblogologist's Guide to Surviving a Northern Winter:

Start:
Step 1: Long underwear, I personally prefer the newer kinds that are more like leggings and do not have that old school square weave, they can be purchased at walmart for about $7. Unfortunately for me this year they seem to have decided medium is the new small and so my new ones are baggy.Step 2: Optional extra pair of long underwear, if it is really cold or your pants are not made of thick material a second pair of long underwear can save you from freezing to death.Step 3: Clothes.Step 4: The hoodie, this is a very versitle layer, it can work in chilly weather by itself, it can be worn indoors either zipped or unzipped based on the coldness of the establishment, and in this context it is a layer that doubles as a head cover since it seems that winter coats these days do not come with hoods without that tacky fake fur (no offense if you like that kind of thing). I make use of my hoodies pretty much year round since air conditioning is often cranked lower than my comfort zone (~70-85°F).Step 5: The ear/forhead band and boots. My beloved Aunt bought me a headband last winter, I used to scoff at them but now am 100% in love with them, they really help keep the ears warm but also for those of us who have ditched the bangs look it also helps keep the forhead comfy. Boots are somewhat optional if you are not going to come into contact with snow and there are a variety of different styles, I personally went for a cheap and simple black boots that match my coat and do not see the point of spending a lot of money on name brands that you can buy walmart version for a tenth the price. If either not wearing boots or it is very cold wearing two pairs of socks or getting special thick socks will help keep the toes from freezing off.Step 6: The winter coat. The key here is that you want a lot of insulation, make sure it has a decent amount of stuffing in all areas. Step 7: Scarves and hats. Scarves are often used as fashion accessories but more importantly they keep the face and neck warm as they were originally made to do. Hats of course help keep the head warm, a lot of body heat is lost through the head (at least that is what adults told me growing up). Step 8: Gloves/mittens. I never wear gloves, my hands are almost always cold due to a condition I have called Raynaud's Phenomenon**, all year round (it is a huge reason for my cold intolerance). Gloves seperate the fingers and actually cause them to get colder than they would be without the gloves, mittens are better for me but they are very clumsy, I usually ball my hands and keep them in my coat pockets. In normal individuals gloves or mittens can be highly beneficial.And there you have it, all you need to survive the winter and coming ice age. Keep warm!

~~~~~Copy Literal Dan Section~~~~~
*Here in the frozen tundra there is this phenomenon called "wind chill", this causes the perceived temperature to be lower than the actual temperature.
**Raynaud's causes the blood vessels to constrict, I have a pretty mild form but it is definitely not pleasant.

Making my life a little less microscopic.

Last night I was talking to Middle Sister on the phone. She was at work and so occasionally had to put the phone down to ring up customers (she has yet to take my, "just lock the door while you're on the phone" advice) and also I was somewhat bored listening to her. I tend to be a pacer when I am on the phone, totally took after Mom on that one. So I was pacing my living room when the newspaper the county puts out that I normally just toss caught my bored eye. The front page feature read, "Captain Midnight's Run for Cystic Fibrosis*". So while Middle Sibling babbled I read the article to see what it was all about. A father with a son that has CF started it last year and it is a 5K run to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation which funds research to develop better drugs to help people with CF live longer and healthier lives as well as working to find a cure for the disease. The run was today (Friday) and started at 7pm and the article said that walkers were welcome.

This was one of the charity runs that you pay to participate in and there didn't seem to be any kind of form to try and get people to sponsor you, which was perfect for me, I suck at fundraising stuff like that! Middle Sibling used to be a distance runner (while I was a sprinter) so I asked her how many miles 5K is, she didn't know and wanted to know why so I told her. She totally did not get the concept of paying to walk 5K and did not seem to think I should spend my time and money on a walk for CF, since she thinks she might have MS she thinks I should do a MS charity thing instead (as if I cannot possibly do both...). She didn't know the answer to my question but google did, it is about 3 miles. So 3 miles, in town, I could walk, it was only $16, and it started at 7pm and not 7am, sign me up! And so I did, I got there a bit late since Aunt D called and I didn't ignore the call (I was tempted since I totally knew I would be late if I took it), but only about 5 minutes or so and not so late that they didn't let me join. I am still trying to figure out how people were finishing very soon after I started, their times must have been amazing!

I did feel like a poser/slug as I was walking the route, talking on my cell phone as people were running by me about to finish. But oh well, I was NEVER a distance runner and with my knee** the way it is running wasn't really an option, especially since I had done a sprint to catch the bus this morning and after three weeks off I went to water aerobics 4 days in a row and so my body is a tad beat up to begin with. My mom called while I was starting and since she had surgery on her foot that afternoon (and I was hoping she was hopped up on pain killers and would provide amusing dialog, alas not) I actually told Aunt D I was going to do the switch thing and talk to her later (I RARELY switch over, I find it somewhat rude). Mom asked what I was doing as I was making comments about wondering if I was going the right way or not (I didn't look at nor have a map and the route had a section that overlapped), a friendly volunteer told me I was going the right way. I told Mom I was doing a 5K, she asked why and I told her it was for CF, she asked if it was one of those things where I asked people to sponsor me (we did one when I was a kid) and I told her no and that I gave them $20 and walk 5K. She had a hard time understanding the concept too. "You could walk 5K for free..." I told her it was for charity and to raise awareness, she seemed to kinda get it. It helped that I told her I got a tee shirt and some coupons from it too, LOL!

About half way or so through Mom took another call and I was left to walk by myself with only the occasional volunteer or onlooker for company. The sun was setting and there were some rather scenic patches along the route, it was very nice and peaceful. They were giving the speeches and handing out awards as I was reaching the end, the meeting place was across the street from the finish line so I plodded along to the end, a volunteer walked with me as another took my time (57 minutes, though my late start was not factored in so it was more like 50 minutes). I came in dead last, but as it was not a race (well it was to some of the participants, not the broken one(s) though). I guess the woman before me insisted she was last, took some pride in it, who knows perhaps time-wise she was in last, it was all in fun I'm sure. No matter what I felt good for going, while I do not know anyone personally with CF I have read blogs written by or about people who do have it and when I was a kid my mom went through a phase of reading books by an author who mainly wrote about characters who were sick and dying and there were a couple that involved CF and they left an impression (I mainly read whatever my mom has/is into at the time).

For me the charity does not have to be about something that directly involves me, I am not that significant but I can be part of something that can help someone else and that is what it is about. It really helps me put things into perspective at a time when I need that, not only given the issues I am having with my job and my health but with the major case of cynicism I have developed as a result of the insanity that is an election year (I am getting to the point where I beyond loathe politics). Things like this help show that there is good in the world and not everything has to involve idiots lying to people to try and con them into voting for them so we can give them our money and have them waste it on stupid crap and support issues that I find vile or screw me over.

For an hour that crap all faded away and it was about coming together to support research to make around 30,000 people in this country's life better. It was about a 4 year old boy who lives in this town and has to take a ton of medication so he can digest his food (really puts my 10 pills a day into perspective), who has a feeding tube because he just can't ingest enough food in a day to grow, and who has to wear a vest twice a day that shakes his chest to clear his lungs of mucus so he can breath and not get as many lung infections. I hope we can beat this thing in little Quinn's lifetime, it wasn't too long ago that he would not have made it this far but with the efforts of researchers and people supporting them he has a decent chance to make it into adulthood. I want him to end up a wrinkly old man recalling how we beat the disease that would have killed him to kids who find it hard to believe that Cystic Fibrosis ever killed anyone (much like many diseases that are easily treated now were killers in the not too distant past).

So overall a great experience I plan to repeat next year and I plan to keep my eye out for similar events in my area. I really wanted to go on the March of Dimes Walk for Babies but the locations were a bit far especially since it started really early in the morning (9am is early!), and they do the whole finding sponsors thing that I mentioned sucking at. It would have been really cool to have gone and possibly met one of my favorite bloggers Loren and her munchkins. And given the fact that my godson was born prematurely (28 weeks 2 days) that one hits close to home. Maybe next year I can find a way to go *cough suck it up cough*.


Pictures (I wish there was a caption option on blogger, if there is someone please tell me)
1: My trying to take my own picture while walking and trying to not be obvious about it because I totally felt like a dork taking my own pic while walking a 5K run.
2: A straight part towards the end, those orange cones were my guide for the beginning and end, things got a little confusing in the middle but thankfully there were volunteers that helped (I am rather navigationally challenged).
3: My new shirt, I wanted to change into it while participating but since I was late starting and there wasn't a good spot to change shirts on route plus I was wearing a black bra and I didn't really want to do the white shirt with a black bra thing cuz I know it would have totally shown through!
4: The hill that tried to kick my butt and somewhat succeeded, hill was steeper than that pic makes it look!
5: Sunset at the end of the event.

*Cystic Fibrosis is a recessive genetic disorder, which means that the mother and the father have to carry the defective gene for their child to inherit it. Normally there is a protein that balances the amount of sodium and chlorine in mucus, in people with CF the gene that codes for that protein is mutated and does not produce a protein that functions properly resulting in them having thick sticky mucus that builds up in their lungs and also clogs the pancreas so the digestive enzymes it produces don't make it into the GI tract. For more information on the disease and ways to get involved in helping visit the CF Foundation. And for a very interesting and compelling perspective on living with and loving someone with CF go read Nate's blog.

**I was a sprinter for two years on my high school track team and developed tendinitis in my right knee. It is not usually a big deal but flares up for various reasons and running is not good for it so I try to avoid it.